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LEWISTON, Idaho – Southeastern (Fla.) used two six-run innings, including a six-run, walk-off seventh, beating Georgia Gwinnett 16-6 to advance to the championship round of the 2025 Avista NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.

The Fire (47-14) are two wins away from a national championship – one Friday, one Saturday – to claim the Red Banner.

Tyler Hinrikus helped set up the walk-off win, doubling down the left field line in the seventh, scoring Nick Streuer and pinch runner Jacob Gumieny, and the game-clinching, final run came home when John Rossi’s sacrifice bunt resulted in an error, bringing Hinrikus in from second base.

All nine Southeastern batters recorded at least one hit in the game, including seven multi-hit games. Streuer was 4-for-5, scoring twice and driving in two runs, and both Charlie Collins and James Strom had three hits in the game. Connor Hicks drove in and scored three runs, going 2-for-3.

Matthew Lee was 2-for-3 for Georgia Gwinnett (56-7), and Braxton Meguiar drove in two runs.

Jon Ponder singled to lead off the game for Georgia Gwinnett, followed by a stray Southeastern pick-off attempt and a wild pitch to make it 1-0. The wild pitch also allowed Meguiar to get to third base, and he scored to make it 2-0 on Scott Seeker’s ground ball to second.

Southeastern answered quickly, getting Jon Paul Pennella on with a leadoff single. Two batters later, Hicks went to the opposite field, homering to the bleachers in left to tie the game.

SEU split the tie with six runs in the bottom of the fourth, beginning with a wild pitch, continuing when Collins singled to left field, scoring two. Two more came home on singles by Hicks and James Strom, and Collins came across to make it 8-2 on a throwing error.

Georgia Gwinnett got four back in the top of the fifth, scoring on a wild pitch and an RBI groundout by Kyle Norton, and Meguiar drove in two with a single, breaking the Grizzlies’ career record for RBIs – his eighth different career record in a GGC uniform – cutting the lead to 8-6.

Collins registered another RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, bringing in Rossi and extending the lead to 9-6. The Fire had the bases loaded later in the inning, with two out, but a ground ball avoided further damage for the Grizzlies.

Georgia Gwinnett got runners to the corners with two outs in the sixth, but a sharp line drive off Norton’s bat went right to Villalobos at short to stop the threat. Southeastern took advantage in its half, when Rossi drove in Strom, and in the seventh, the Fire loaded the bases with nobody out.

David Castillo extended the lead to five and kept the bases loaded with a single, and a deep single off the wall in left from Nick Streuer tacked on two more to make it 13-6. The Fire would get three more runs, ending the game two innings early.

Southeastern moves to the final day of the Avista NAIA World Series, at 6:30 p.m. PT.