2022 NAIA Avista-NAIA World Series – Game 14 Recap
No. 4 LSU Shreveport (La.) staves off elimination in wild ninth inning
FINAL SCORE
No. 4 LSU Shreveport (La.) (53-7) def. No. 7 Faulkner (Ala.) (39-17), 3-2 | Box Score
LSU Shreveport advances to play Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. or 8:30 pm CST in Game 16 or 17 (elimination) against an opponent to be determined by the tournament committee
Faulkner (Ala.) has been eliminated from World Series play
GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS
- With two outs, Allbry Major was the first player to step on the base paths; A single and stolen base by Carlos Pineyro gave LSUS two runners in scoring position, but they were unable to bring them home
- In the second inning, the Shreveport once again had a drawn walk and a single but ended the frame with the scoreboard still showing zeros
- Two Pilots were hit by pitches in the third but the contest was still without a run scored
- Kevin Miranda was given the ball for the Pilots and steered them to perfect through the first three innings, retiring all nine batters while recording six strikeouts
- Nathan Beyer ripped a ball to right field which scored Cameron Lewis from third base who was pinch running for Josh Wunnenberg after his single to left
- In the fourth inning, Sammy De La Cruz got the first hit for the Eagles but they would not score until the next trip to the plate
- J Lucas kicked things off with an opening walk and was swiftly brought home by a right line triple from Evan Gilliam; T Reyes-Cru singled through the right side to give Faulkner its first lead in two games on Harris Field
- Miranda was able to prevented more damage by ending the inning on a double play, after which he would exit the contest having pitched five innings allowing two runs and striking out 10 batters
- The next inning of defense, Gilliam leaped into the center field wall and snagged the deep fly ball of Beyer, but the sacrifice fly brought home Pineyro who tied the game at 2-2
- LSUS preserved the tied contest with an incredible, twirling fielding play by third basemen Julian Flores – the final out of the sixth
- Pilot relief pitcher Josh Fortenberry got LSUS out of the jam after he inherited two baserunners who were walked by the previous player manning the bump
- Initially Faulkner kept the score tied at two each, thanks in part to a 463 double play turned by De La Cruz and Shawn Ross, but Trevor Burkhardt crushed a 2-0 count fastball into left field
- Fortenberry was tasked with getting the final three outs of the game, but a single and a balk later saw him hand the ball off to an unlikely player
- Center fielder Allbry Majors, who had made his imprint of the tournament with his three home runs, took on the pressure closing out the game after only pitching 1/3 of an inning in the entire season
- Just 90-feet away stood the tying run with two outs gone thanks to a pop up to the catcher and a strikeout; despite hittin the next batter, Majors put the game on ice with his third strikeout of the year
- The star offensively for the Pilot going 2-3 with two RBI; for the Eagles it Gilliam going 2-4 with a scored run and a RBI