Tennessee Wesleyan Falls in Extras at NAIA World Series

LEWISTON, Idaho – [BRACKET | SCHEDULE] Tennessee Wesleyan saw its run in the 65th Annual Avista-NAIA World Series come to an end it fell 8-7 in 10 innings to No. 1 seed Southeastern (Fla.) on Wednesday.

Southeastern will face host Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) for the national championship on Thursday.

No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) (58-3) def. No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan (56-8), 8-7 (10 innings)

• The very first batter of the game, Carson Ford, was hit by the pitch, but he tried to steal second base and was thrown out on the pitch before Cayle Webster was awarded a walk
• SEU was three up, three down which quickly flipped the lineup back over to Tennessee Wesleyan
• Two runners were aboard from a BB and an HBP which set the stage for Dan Sayre to jack a three-run shot to left field in the top of the second
• On the next trip to the plate, Southeastern put up its first run of the contest on a solo blast from Shamir Morales to center field
• After three innings, the Fire changed pitchers bringing in Billy Mote who would allow one run to cross home plate thanks in large part to three fielding errors by the SEU defense
• In the bottom of the fifth, Jose Marcano singled up the middle, and head coach Adrian Dinkle waves Stephen Cullen home; originally on the field he was called out at home
• The first use of replay was used which overturned the call and brought it to a 4-2 score favoring the Bulldogs
• Southeastern moved a runner over to third base with only an out away in the inning which prompted a pitching change from TWU – starter Christ Koeiman gave way to reliever Trent Thrash
• An infield single to shortstop from Thomas Broyles scored Marcano and closed it to a 4-3 gap
• The third fielding error by SEU's shortstop enabled two straight singles to load the bases with only one out away in the sixth
• Despite being in the jam, DJ Roberts handles the fielder's choice opportunity to get the force out at home and end the inning on a fly out to deep right field
• Rallying back from a 3-0 deficit, the Fire took tied the contest at 4-4 with Isaac Nunez's left side single and then took the lead when Sam Faith beat out the throw to the plate on a passed ball
• Tennessee Wesleyan tried to answer right back as a double high off the wall from Livan Reinoso, but Roberts struck out the next batter and ending the seventh with a pop out to second base
• The Fire scored one run off a sacrifice fly from Marcano but were unable to put more distance between the team teams as the eighth inning ended with two SEU runners standing on the corners
• A routine groundball ended as a fielding error which enabled J Ward to matriculate his way to third base; the Fire responded by intentionally walking Reinoso while needing only one more out to close out the game
• The tactic initially backfired as Parker Stinnett ripped a ball to right-center to bring TWU within one run and have the tying score sitting on third
• Alex Munroe entered the high-pressure situation and gave up an RBI single which scored two and put the Bulldogs ahead 7-6
• With two outs punched and SEU down by a run, Gary Lora knuckled a ball just over the outstretched glove of TWU second baseman Webster; Zach Diewart scored from third to tie the game 7-7
• In the bottom of the 10^th, Drew Gillespie scored the winning run off a right-field single from Morales
• Roberts pitched 5.2 innings in relief allowing six hits, but only one earned run while striking out four
• Offensively, Gary Lora went 4-5, Nunez was each 3-5 in the game, and Broyles was 2-4; Cullen and Faith drew four of the team's six walks
• In the loss, Sayres had an excellent day at the play going 3-5 with four RBI thanks to his home run, as he tallied exactly half of the Bulldogs' hits
• Southeastern escapes with the win despite five fielding errors by the No. 1 team in the country
• Game 17 was the first contest of the 2022 World Series to go to extra innings