Records Fall During Day Three of 2024 Avista NAIA Baseball World Series (2024)

LEWISTON, Idaho –[SCHEDULE|BRACKET] Day Three of the 2024 Avista NAIA World Series at Harris Field saw Reinhardt (Ga.) and Georgia Gwinnett move forward in the winner’s bracket in historic fashion for both clubs. Southeastern (Fla.) will fight it out with Tennessee Wesleyan while it will be an all Golden State Athletic Conference dual between Hope International (Calif.) and Arizona Christian.

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS

No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) (52-7) defeats No. 3 Cumberlands (Ky.) (52-8), 12-5

• Scoring began in the bottom of the first with a single by Cristopher Munoz followed by two stolen bases and a wild pitch
• The Fire added a second run in the next inning as Tommy Davis scored from third on the Luis Gonzalez right field single
• Keeping with the theme, Gary Lora’s single in the bottom of the third made it a 3-0 ball game before Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 in the fourth
• Ben Snapp hit a deep ball to center field which scored Johnboy Rittenhouse and cut it to a 4-1 contest
• In the bottom of the fifth, Southeastern scored three runs with timely hits and consistent base running
• During the top of the sixth, Munoz and Snapp each homered to cut it to a 7-5 score
• During the bottom of the eighth, the Fire blew open the game with a two RBI single from Alfonso Villalobos, a RBI single from Lora, and a two RBI single by Chayce Bryant
• Kailen Hamson (L, 6-1) earns his first loss of the year allowing five runs during four innings in command
• Robb Adams (W, 9-2) went 5.1 innings of work allowing four while Jake Cohen got his first save of the season by getting the final nine outs
• Davis led the Fire with three hits while Landrey Wilkerson, Lora, and Villalobos each had a pair of hits.
• For the Patriots, Munoz and Caden Petrey were the only ones to record two hits, Rittenhouse had the most runs scored, and Snapp led the way with three RBI

No. 4 Hope International (Calif.) (42-16) defeats No. 10 Indiana Southeast (37-20), 12-1

• Hope International broke up the scoreless affair in the top of the fourth inning as Alex Moreno homered to right field
• Later in the same inning Derek Sims singled to right field to score a run and Amari Bartee hit a RBI infield single
• In the top of the fifth, David Rivera homered to left field to make it a 4-0 game favoring HIU
• The seventh inning saw four runs scored for the Royals, first a RBI walk drawn by Ryan Maciel, another brought home by a hit by pitch, and then Ryan Lamastra hitting a two RBI single through the left side
• JJ Cruz made it a 9-0 advantage for HIU with a solo blast to right field
• During their final trip to the plate, Rivera belted his second homer of the day and 14^thof the season, putting Hope International up 11-0; Cruz followed suit with a second home run in the game and his 15^thtotal this year
• Trey Seeley (W, 10-3) tossed eight scoreless innings while striking out 11 for Hope International
• Tyler Yotkewich (L, 8-6) was awarded the loss for four innings of work allowing three runs for the Grenadiers
• Cruz led all batters going 4-4 with two RBI and four runs scored
• IU Southeast saw the four team hits all come from different players
• The Royals won their second straight elimination game

No. 5 Reinhardt (Ga.) (43-16) defeats No. 9 Arizona Christian (38-20), 30-13

• Tucker Zdunich hit a two out, two run shot to center field for the Eagles, starting a script which would dramatically unfold
• Marques Titialii tied things up in the bottom of the inning with a two RBI homerun to left field, scoring Andrew Ivy
• The Firestorm took the lead, their only of the game, on Ryan Eastham’s single in the bottom of the first
• Trailing 3-2 in the top of the second, Reinhardt put up seven runs in the frame
• Four of the runs came off a pair of home runs by Dylan Lewis and Adrian Vargas
• Keeping with the theme, the Eagles scored another seven in the top of the third inning as well
• Zdunich and Lewis both recorded their second homers of the game, plating five total runs between the two of them
• Not backing down, ACU chipped away to cut it to a 16-6 score after the bottom of the third
• Kane Kiaunis hit a single down the right field line to score Trey Tarver, Kiaunis scored off Eastham’s double, and Matthew Beckworth had an RBI single scoring Deshon Thomas
• The scoring kept going as RU put up a six spot in the top of the fourth to lead 22-6
• The Firestorm scored one in the fourth, two in the fifth, and three in the sixth to narrow the gap to 22-13
• Reinhardt responded by scoring for more runs, in the top of the seventh, to break the all-time single game World Series record, previously 25 which was held by Southeastern (Fla.) and also Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho)
• The two teams tied the record for most combined hits (43) on Lance Dockery’s three run homer in the top of the eighth
• That hit also broke the previous record for most home runs in a game (7) which stood since the 1986 World Series
• Reinhardt increased that record to nine when Zdunich launched his third homerun of the game to put the Eagles up 30-13
• In all, Zdunich was 6-7 with nine RBI and five runs scored; Lewis and co*ckery each record six RBI on eight combined hits
• For the Firestorm, Taver was 3-4 with three runs, while Sean Garcia, Titialii, Kiaunis, and Eastham each had two RBI
• Ben Medley (W, 8-4) went 5.1 innings for the Eales while Eastyn Culp (L, 5-1) gave up seven earned before the end of the second inning

No. 2 Georgia Gwinnett (53-7) defeats No. 6 Tennessee Wesleyan (41-17), 12-6

• Tennessee Wesleyan got the scoring rolling early, putting up four during their first trip to the plate
• Evan Magill singled through the right side which scored a pair, followed by Daniel Stewart’s single to right field to make it a 4-0 count
• Paul Windland Jr hit a RBI single back to the pitcher, which got the Grizzlies on the board; Henry Daniels then scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2
• In the top of the sixth, Joe Quelch singled to left field to make it just a one run difference
• Facing a 2-2 count, Ajay Sczepkowski homered to left field putting Georgia Gwinnett in front for the first time
• In the bottom of the same inning, Cayle Webster hit a sacrifice fly to left field which scored Jack Stevens and bringing it to a 6-5 count favoring GGC
• The Grizzlies countered back in the top of the eighth making it a 8-5 game, scoring first off a throwing error by TWU and then Blaze O’Saben knocking a sacrifice fly to center field
• If one is good, another is better as Sczepkowski launched his second HR and 21^stoverall this season to put Georgia Gwinnett ahead 10-5
• Caden Smith left no doubt on the result as he blasted a two run shot to right field bringing it to a 12-5 score
• In the bottom of the ninth, TWU was able to score one off a Webster’s single to right
• Sczepkowski was 3-5 at the plate with five RBI and a trio of runs scored; Quelch was the only other Grizzly to record two hits
• For the Bulldogs, Stevens and Marco Martinez were each 2-4 with a combined four runs
• Ben Harris (W, 11-4) was the second GCC pitcher to throw a complete game in this year’s World Series tossing 139 pitches and allowing four earned
• Daniel Davila (L, 7-4) was issued the loss for allowing five runs in his one inning of command