2022 NAIA Avista-NAIA World Series – Game Seven Recap
No. 5 Bellevue (Neb.) wins the first elimination game of the championship
FINAL SCORE
No. 5 Bellevue (Neb.) (49-12) def. No. 9 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) (39-18), 9-7 | Box Score
Bellevue advances to play Monday at 10:30 a.m. CST in Game 9 (elimination) against No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan
MidAmerica Nazarene has been eliminated from World Series play
GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS
- Second pitch of the game, Kanta Kobayashi tripled to left field
- Consecutive singles produced a pair of RBI for the Bruins to take an early 2-0 lead
- With runners on the corners, Sandoval’s hit went up the middle to plate the Pioneers first run
- Alexandro Celiceo minimized the damaged with a ground out to end the inning with two MNU runners on the bags
- MNU starter Alex Meyers was relieved at the mound after 1.2 innings and 28 pitches
- Noah Castillo tied the contest in the third inning with a solo bomb to left field
- The stalemate was broken in the sixth as a two batter sequence saw Alec Ackerman single and then Brenton Davis go yard for two-RBI
- After a pitching change, BU ended the seventh inning with a double play to preserve their one run advantage
- MidAmerica was pulling out all the stops in the pitching game not wanting their season to end
- The Bruins benefitted from Alex Stufft’s at-bat as after a balk was awarded and the base runner moved to third, he laid down a smooth bunt giving BU a 5-3 margin after eight
- Not going out without a fight, Joey Calamaio launched a pinch hit home run to left field – only his second on the year
- Normally a starter, Elijah Johnson earns the save which is the second in the last three postseason games; he recorded a pair of strikeouts and is the NAIA leader
- Celiceo (W, 7-1) controlled 6.1 innings for the Bruins allowing three earned runs and tallying four strikeouts
- The Pioneers used five pitchers in the game with Eric Navarette (L, 5-6) seeing the bulk of the action with four innings
- Ackerman and Davis had matching 3-4 days with two runs scored each
- MNU had a trio of batters go 2-4 (Ryan Leo, Joshuan Sandoval, and Castillo)
- Bellevue now sits one victory away from the third 50-win season under head coach Duane Monlux
This season was the 50th in Pioneer history in which they reached their first World Series