JOURNAL STAFF
LEWISTON, Idaho — Rain and Bellevue pitching may have dampened LSU Shreveport’s offense early Friday, but the No. 4 seed Pilots regained their form in the middle innings to power through for an 8-4 win against the No. 8 seed Bruins in the first round of the Avista NAIA World Series.
LSUS (52-6) advances to face No. 1 No. 1 seed Southeastern (Fla.) today at 5 p.m. (CST) after the Fire (55-3) erased a six-run deficit to top defending national champion Georgia Gwinnett 9-7.
For LSUS, the scoreless game into the fourth inning went into a five-hour lightning delay, and the Pilots returned to the field charged.
Bellevue struck first after the delay with a two-run home run, but LSUS scored the next eight runs to secure the victory.
Allbry Major bashed a three-run home run in the fifth inning to score Trevor Burkhart (walk) and Austin McNicholas (double). McNicholas tacked on two more in the sixth inning with a two-RBI single; he finished with three RBIs on a 3-for-4 day with two runs scored.
Major belted his second home run of the day and 10th of the season to plate the final two runs, capping a five-RBI effort.
Major is one of five Pilots with at least 50 RBIs, accounting for 55 this season so far.
Pitcher Kevin Miranda picked up the win as he started after the delay and tossed four innings; he gave up just one run and three hits.
Starting pitcher Bobby Vath held Bellevue to one run and one hit in three innings.
Southeastern’s Sam Faith belted a two-run home run to break a ninth-inning tie and send the Fire to their first-round victory.
LSUS will meet Southeastern for the second straight World Series; the Fire won the 2021 matchup in a 25-13 shootout. The Fire pounded out 23 hits and scored 10 of their runs in the fifth inning to pull away.
The Pilots are making their fifth World Series appearance in program history and second straight.
The Fire are making their fourth straight World Series trip after sweeping through the Upland Indiana bracket this season. They won their lone national championship in 2018.
LSUS’ offense has cruised this season to the tune of 10.5 runs per game.
Zyon Avery leads the pack with 69 RBIs with Julian Flores (57), Ryan Major (52) and Austin McNicholas (51) to join Allbry Major (55).
Vath (13-0) and Miranda (12-1) headline a pitching staff that’s accumulated a 3.61 ERA.
The Fire also average more than 10 runs per game led by Brian Fuentes’ 82 RBIs.
Southeastern’s pitching has put together an impressive 3.03 staff ERA led by Robb Adams (14-1) and Drew Gillespie (10-0).
Photo courtesy of LSUS Athletics