LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 23-ranked Indiana Tech baseball team saw its historic season come to a close Monday afternoon at Harris Field on the campus of Lewis-Clark State College as they were eliminated from the 2019 Avista NAIA World Series by defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Southeastern University in 10 innings, 6-5.
The Warriors, who were making their first appearance in the World Series since 2003, struck first in the second game of the day with two runs against the Fire in the bottom of the third.
Jake Ritson led things off after getting hit on a 2-2 pitch and moved up 90 feet in the next at-bat thanks to a sacrifice bunt from
Jashaun Simon.
Jacob Alvidrez followed up with a single to left to make it first and third, while
Reese Olden beat out a double play ball to keep the inning alive and allowing Ritson to score.
Glen McClain drove in Olden on the second pitch he saw with a double to center, his 20
th of the season, to knock in his 57
th run of the year and give Tech a 2-0 lead.
The Orange and Black doubled their score in the fifth thanks to a single from
Branson Dossen on a 2-2 count with two outs, who got a second chance following a dropped foul ball by Southeastern's first baseman.
The Fire were finally able to get a run off starter
Seth Sorensen in the sixth thanks to three straight singles that cut the Tech lead in half. Sorensen appeared to get out of the inning with a two-run lead after getting a ground ball to second, but the SEU batter was able to beat out the throw and push another run across the plate to make it a 4-3 game.
The Warriors added their fifth run of the game in the eight following back-to-back two out doubles from DeFries and Spencer McGhee to give closer
Joe Pratt an insurance run headed into the top of the ninth. Pratt got the first two batters out, but following a two-out walk to the Fire's, Dan Valerio, SEU right fielder Abdel Guadalupe golfed a first pitch breaking ball out to left field that cleared the wall by less than a foot and tied the game up at 5-5.
Tech had a chance in the bottom of the ninth to push the game-winning run across the plate, as Alvidrez worked a two-out walk and Olden was hit by a pitch to bring up McClain, but Southeastern's Marc Soto got him to fly out to center and send the game into extra innings.
The third-seeded Fire got runners to the corners with one out in the top of the 10
th, and were able to push across the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to left field, while Soto sent the Warriors down in order in the bottom of the frame to end their season.
Alvidrez went 3-4 with a walk while DeFries was 2-5 on the day. Sorensen went 7.1 innings on the mound, scattering seven hits while allowing just three runs.
Tech finishes the 2019 season with a record of 42-16-1, the fourth straight season the team has won at least 40 games.
