May 16, 2008

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LEWISTON, Idaho - Junior right-hander Matt Fitts tossed a six-hitter, allowed only one earned run, and retire the final batter with his ninth strikeout of the game with the tying run on third base to help the Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) College baseball team capture the NAIA's West Coast Super Regional title with a 4-3 win over Azusa Pacific (Calif.) University at LCSC's Harris Field on Thursday night (May 15).

The win gives LCSC a 2-0 sweep in the best-of-3 series after the Warriors won the opener by an identical 4-3 score on Wednesday night.

Although both teams already were assured of berths into the 10-team Avista NAIA World Series, which opens next Friday at Harris Field, LCSC, 53-5 will go into the tournament as the West Coast champion while APU, 45-10, will receive one of three at-large berths.

Fitts, a preseason NAIA All-American, improved to 11-0 on the season with his third complete game of the season. The Santa Rosa, Calif., product, who was a 15th-round draft pick of the Houston Astros last year, threw 129 pitches in the game and allowed only four hits until the ninth inning.

It was the fifth straight solid outing for Fitts, who has gone at least seven innings and struck out at least seven in each start. He threw a three-hit nine-inning shutout over Concordia to start the streak, and then allowed two hits over seven innings against Whitworth. He gave up four hits and two runs in seven innings against Corban, and then threw eight innings of one-hit ball against the College of Idaho at the Region I Tournament.

In Thursday's game, Fitts allowed two unearned runs in the fifth inning, which allowed APU to take a 3-2 lead. Fitts then retired the next 11 batters he faced before Drew Evans and Matt Venegas hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corner. With closer Justin Mace ready to go, it appeared Fitts' night was done, but after a talk with pitching coach Gus Knickrehm, Fitts stayed in the game and struck out Grant Beyer to end the contest.

It's the second straight year LCSC has defeated APU for the Super Regional title.

APU broke on top in the third inning when Venegas and Beyer opened with singles and Kirk Nieuwenhuis was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Stephen Kohatsu then grounded into a double play, which allowed Venegas to score.

LCSC gained the lead in the fourth with a pair of runs on four hits. Ikaika Lester tied the game with a solo home run to center field, his eighth of the season. Brian Ward followed with a single and was replaced by courtesy runner Ryan Anderson, who stole second and went to third when the throw was wide of the base and went into center field. Josh Ashenbrenner then singled in Anderson, but the Warriors proceeded to leave the bases loaded.

The Cougars took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, all with two outs. Following a walk, Kohatsu was awarded first base on catcher's interference. Brice Cutspec then smacked a two-run double to left-center field.

LCSC tied it 3-3 in the fifth when consecutive walks to Kyle Greene and Sean Halton, and a one-out error on a grounder hit by Ward loaded the bases. Ashenbrenner followed with a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Greene.

LCSC picked up the winning run in the seventh when Halton doubled to right and Lester followed with an RBI single to left. Lester and Ashenbrenner finished with two hits and two RBI for LCSC, while Brent Wyatt added two hits.

Venegas had two hits for APU in the game, which featured a number of outstanding defensive plays.

APU used five pitchers in the game and the third, Matt Stone, took the loss to fall to 5-3.

Rather than return home and then come back five days later, APU will stay in Lewiston and work out until the Series.

LCSC will be seeking its 16 national title in the Series, including its third straight.