May 26, 2007

LEWISTON, Idaho - Jesse Roehl drove in six runs and the top-ranked Lewis-Clark State College baseball team took advantage of wildness by the Lee University pitching staff to claim a 11-7 win in the final game of opening day at the 51st annual Avista NAIA World Series at LCSC's Harris Field.

Roehl hit a three-run double in the second inning and added a three-run home run in the fifth to help the Warriors, who were out-hit in the game 10-8, but took advantage of 13 walks to create several scoring opportunities.

The Warriors, 54-5 overall and the defending champions, jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but had to hold off a pair of rallies by Lee, the No. 6 seed in the tournament. Lee, 50-14 overall, cut the margin to 5-4 and later to 9-7, but couldn't connect with the key hit or have its pitching staff find the strike zone when needed.

LCSC picked up five runs in the second inning when two walks and a single loaded the bases. Paul Martin was hit by a pitch to bring in a run, while Roehl followed with a three-run double to left center. Roehl later scored on a bases-loaded walk to Brent Wyatt.

Lee picked up a run in the third and added three more in the fourth when Nick Utley hit a two-run double and scored on a single by Kyle Sullivan.

The Warriors scored three runs in the fifth on a three-run blast by Roehl, and added another in the sixth when Beau Mills added his 34th home run of the season, a solo shot.

Lee made one more run at LCSC, thanks the wildness by the Warrior staff, which issued two bases-loaded walks, which helped Lee cut the margin to 9-7.

The Warriors finally put the game away in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of runs. Martin had an RBI double and a wild pitch brought in the final run.

LCSC's third pitcher Will Morgan had the most success of the seven pitchers in the game as he didn't allow a hit in 2.1 innings and struck out four. In all the seven pitchers walked 19 batters.

Jessie Mier added two hits for LCSC, while Jeremy Hutslar went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Lee, and Tony Perez and Utley both finished 2-for-4.

Lee will resume play on Saturday at noon Pacific time in loser-out action against No. 7 seed St. Thomas of Florida in a rematch of last week's Atlantic South Super Regional, which Lee won the best-of-three series in three games. LCSC receives a bye on Saturday and will play the winner of Saturday's game between Spring Arbor and Walsh on Monday at 7 p.m.