The Road Ends in Lewiston: Breakdown of the NAIA World Series
- Info CBC
- 1 day ago
- 9 min read
By Andrew Riedell
The title says it all as the road ends in Lewiston as at the end of this week the NAIA World Series will kick off in Lewiston, Idaho. The final ten teams have been decided after an excited week last week of some NAIA baseball as I went 8/10 in my NAIA picks to Lewiston but now is the tough decision. One team is going to walk out of Lewiston with the Red Banner which team is that team going to be. Let's talk about it.
First up let's break down the seeding of the tournament as it will look like this:
LSU Shreveport (54-0)
Georgia Gwinnett (53-5)
Tennessee Wesleyan (46-12)
Hope International (Reigning Champ, 46-8)
Webber International (44-13)
Southeastern (FL) (44-13)
Cumberlands (Ky.) (48-10)
Loyola New Orleans (41-16)
British Columbia (39-17)
Grand View (Iowa) (38-12)
It will be a double elimination style bracket this year with some very solid matchups kicking us off such as a Sun Conference matchup between 5 seed Webber International and 6 seed Southeastern and even a blue blood in the NAIA level facing off with a team on their first trip to Lewiston in the Tennessee Wesleyan and Loyola New Orleans match up. We are not going to breakdwon the games but let's breakdown how these ten teams got here in the regionals.
LSU Shreveport (54-0)
Welp they did it they swept through their regional pretty easily actually as they did not trail at all in the regional and they made easy work of all three teams they faced. Defeating Ottawa in Game 1 behind a phenomenal pitching performance by Issac Rohde and Lex Meinderts to win 5-2. In Game 2 the bats woke up for 15 runs over the Johnson pitching staff as led by Ryan Davenport 5 RBI day and Anthony Swenda 3-4 day with a home run led them to the championship game in the regional. In Game 3 of the regional for the Pilots they scored all 9 runs in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th inning before MACU threatned with six runs of their own but Issac Rohde and Brock Lucas came in and led the Pilots back to Lewiston after a two year hiatus.
The Pilots will be the favorite to win the whole thing going into Lewiston and I believe some fans might just be wondering if they lose a game this season.
Georgia Gwinnett (53-5)
Georgia Gwinnett enters as the two seed into Lewiston where I think they have already had their hotels booked for a while! It did get a little sweaty for the Grizz Gang in their regional as after taking care of Talladega in Game 1 6-4 they lost the next game to Keiser 7-4 to find themselves in the Losers Bracket. How do they respond? With a run rule win over Saint Xavier and beating Keiser TWICE to send them home and to clinch a way to Lewiston. For the second straight season Gwinnett season was on life support as Keiser was up 10-5 in the bottom of the 8th and then the flood gates opened for the Gwinnett bats to force the Game 7 and the Grizzles bats did not disappoint there as they even had Game 1 starter Ben Harris come in and close it out and send them to Lewiston.
Georgia Gwinnett lives for Lewiston. Do not be shocked to find this team in the championship game.
Tennessee Wesleyan (46-12)
A blue blood in the NAIA baseball world returns to claim what they could have had last year as the Bulldogs lost in the championship game to Hope International last season in Lewiston. This year Tennessee Wesleyan comes back hungry. Winning their regional the same way Gwinnett did it as after the first game victory over Indiana Tech the Bulldogs dropped their next contest vs Columbia to put them in the Loser's Bracket. Tennessee Wesleyan would then go back and forth in a 26 run contest against Cumberland (TN) winning that game 14-12 behind five different Bulldogs driving home two or more runs. Then a rematch vs Columbia saw Justin Jackson go five scoreless innings in relief to clinch the if necessary game and Tennessee Wesleyan got revenge beating Columbia 18-1 behind a 12 run seventh inning.
Like I said they are on a revenge tour they love winning and I really think this might be their year.
Hope International (46-8)
The reigning champs will make it back to Lewiston or stay in Lewiston as they won the Lewiston Regional sweeping through it pretty easily as thanks to a complete game from Trey Seeley against Oregon Tech move them along as Seeley struck out 15 Oregon Tech hitters. In Game 2 the Royals knocked off the host team Lewis-Clark State 12-1 thanks to home runs by Trotter Boston, and Mario Tostado supporting the offense and another complete game by Josh Landry keeping the LC State bats at bay. Then in the final game of the regional the Royals took care of Wayland Baptist by the score of 12-4 thanks to Kyle Harvey and Julian Francois 3 RBI days. Thanks to their saved bullpen they were able to use their top bullpen arms and keep Wayland Baptist off the board in the back end of the game. My main question is did Hope International go back to California for a couple days or did they stay in Idaho?
They are the reigning champs for a reason. This team could seriously go back to back this year. I can't wait to see what this team does in the World Series.
Webber International (44-13)
The Webber International Warriors will be making their second ever trip to Lewiston after sweeping their way through the Opening Round which I thought they would have gotten beaten by Concordia but I was wrong. This Webber team got a solid outing from it's bullpen against Indiana Wesleyan in Game 1 from Jacob Hardy and Noah Palmese who picked up his 12th save of the year in the win. They also got timely hitting from Ryan Recio and Brandon Sanchez to take the lead and win it. In Game 2 Blayne Huter showed why he is one of the best pitchers in the country after he went 7 shutout innings striking out 10 and Noah Palmese slamming the door again for save 14 of the year.
Webber can rely on both their pitching and hitting to go for in this tournament especialy with getting the luxury of not playing on Day 1.
Southeastern (FL) (44-13)
No Adrian Dinkel no problem for the Southeastern Fire as after losing their head coach and multiple key pieces that helped them get to Lewiston in years past they have found there way back to Lewiston in Coach Gabe Grinder first year leading the program. The Fire swept their way through their regional as they took care of business against Briar Cliff 6-2 in Game 1 with Reece Wissinger going 7 shutout innings striking out 8 as John Rossi led the way driving in two runs and three other FIre driving in one run. In Game 2 of the Regional against Arizona Christian the Fire got another great outing with Aaron Robertson on the mound as he went 8 innings striking out 7 batters and the Southeastern bats being able to put up 8 runs to win 8-5. IN the final game of the regional against ABAC the Fire bats were able to get it going with Connor Hicks, James Strom, and David Castillo all homering on their way to a 10-4 win.
The Fire are no stranger to Lewiston no matter who the coach is for this team they are always a threat to win.
Cumberlands (KY) (48-10)
I said it in my preview and I will say it here again. I was shocked to see this Cumberlands team as a 2 seed at their own place which made no sense to me but whatever. The Patriots took care of business as they swept through the regional as well as in Game 1 the Patriots walked off MidAmerica Nazarene thanks to Trent Prokes walking it off on a RBI single to win the game. Kailen Hamson also struck out 14 guys out in this game. In Game 2 against the one seed Missouri Baptist Caden Petrey played hero after hitting the game winning two run home run in the top of the 10th. Charlie Muniz hit his 33rd home run of the year in this game as well as Cumberlands won 8-6 before they run ruled them in Game 3 as well 16-6.
This Cumberlands team can play at home and on the road as we saw this offense translate to Lewiston last year. I expect Charlie Muniz and Max Harper to have a field day there as well.
Loyola New Orleans (41-16)
The Loyola Wolf Pack will be making their first ever trip to Lewiston in program history and it will be Head Coach Jeremy Kennedy third program he has taken to Lewiston as well. The Wolf Pack started their regional journey with a toe to toe showdown with Oakland City as they would be down 4-0 early to Oakland City before the Pack got the bats hot before Brandon Mooney would put the finishing blows with an two run single in the 6th to make it 5-4 and then a two run home to make it 7-4 to win game 1. In Game 2 against the host team Reinhardt the Wolf Pack got a solid start from Brady Bowen to let the bats do their thing as this game was back and forth as the finishing touches were done by a wild pitch and Garrett Felix sac fly to maje it 7-5 before a poor baserunning decision on a RBI double would give the Wolf Pack a 7-6 win. The Wolf Pack would drop Game 3 to Ave Maria as the Gyrenes would force the "Game 7" but the Wolf Pack would pervail thanks to a solid outing from Cole Bordes and Caden Durand to send the Pack to it's first trip to Lewiston as Anthony Fernandez put the final dagger in Ave Maria season with a two run home run in the 8th.
Loyola is red hot right now as they have dominated vs William Carey in the last series of the season and has dominated through this regional. Do not count out the Pack.
British Columbia (39-17)
CANADA TEAM!!! How fitting is it that a Cascade Conference team will be playing in Lewiston and it isn't the one we all thought. (Well I thought I picked them.) As they swept through their regional as well with wins over Oklahoma Weselyan and Indiana University Southeast. In Game 1 vs Oklahoma Wesleyan Will Anderson and Brock James dominated on the mound keeping the bats at bay and then getting a day from Mitchell Middlemiss as the Oklahoma Wesleyan pitchers were missing middle (Haha get it?) as Middlemiss went 5-5 with 4 RBIs two doubles and a triple to lead the way for the Thunderbirds. In Game 2 Middlemiss stayed hot driving in another three runs and Kaden Zarowny bringing in three runs and hitting a home run as well. In Game 3 this one had to go to extras to get the Thunderbirds a trip back to Lewiston as they capitalized on a wild pitch and singles by Trent Lenihan and Jaden Lamothe to win the game 7-4 in extras.
The Thunderbirds should not be slept on I truly believe this team is slept on. They have a whole country behind them.
Grand View (38-12)
For the first time since 1991 the Grand View Vikings are going to Lewiston as a 4 seed from an Opening Round will be going to the World Series after the Vikings ran through the Loser's Bracket and came back from the jaws of defeat to find themselves in Lewiston. After getting run ruled in Game 1 vs Taylor the Vikings bounced back to send Bellevue home winless from a regional again. Grand View would then meet up with Taylor again and beat them 11-10 to send the host team home thanks to a break out day from Erik Broekemeier who went 3-5 driving in 5 runs along with 4 home runs from the Vikings sent the Trojans home! The Vikings would then sweep Kansas Wesleyan to make it to Lewiston.
This team was ranked where they were due to their weak schedule this season but I believe this team could upset someone season in Lewiston.
Riedell's Report and Pick for the NAIA World Series
Well I went 8 for 10 on who will make it to Lewiston but their can only be one winner sadly but when thinking of this winner I had to really pick out each one of these games and think of how deep these teams are and for some of them I do not think the pitching is deep enough to go into playing three or four straight days in a row if they go into the elimination bracket. I could go the easy way out and say LSU-Shreveport is going to win the whole tournament but I do not believe that. I believe their are two teams with favorable paths to the championship and those two teams are Hope International and Georgia Gwinnett. I think we could see a deep run by Loyola or Tennessee Wesleyan but I believe Georgia Gwinnett has such a favorable side of the bracket as Hope, Cumberlands, and LSU-Shreveport have to face off with each other to fight for the Red Banner like WOW!
My final prediction: Georgia Gwinnett over Hope International.
*****