May 27, 2007

LEWISTON, Idaho - The favorites took a beating during the second day of the 51st annual Avista NAIA World Series baseball tournament at Lewis-Clark State College's Harris Field on Saturday as top-seed Azusa Pacific lost its opener, while Cumberland of Lebanon, Tenn., won't be playing in its third title game in the last four years.

Azusa Pacific's debut was spoiled by No. 8 seed Lindenwood, which scored a huge 14-9 upset win in the late game on Saturday night. As one of the top two seeds, Azusa Pacific received a bye when the 10-team double-elimination tournament opened on Friday.

Also on Saturday, Cumberland, which won the title in 2004 and placed second last year, became the first team to be eliminated when the No. 4 seeded Bulldogs fell to Houston Baptist 5-2.

The other two games on Saturday nearly ended in upsets as well. No. 2 seed Spring Arbor of Michigan (46-3) used a three-run eighth inning to take the lead and added two more in the ninth to defeat 10th-seeded Walsh University 8-5. No. 6 seed Lee University needed 12 innings to finally subdue No. 7 seed St. Thomas University 5-4 in the other loser-out contest.

Azusa Pacific (50-9) fought back from deficits of 2-0 and 7-2 to take a 9-7 lead in the sixth inning. Lindenwood (47-18) responded with a solo run in the seventh and six runs in the eighth to capture the win. Designated hitter Ryan Kopp hit a three-run home run in the eighth to power Lindenwood in its victory, which came just before midnight Saturday.

APU starter Scott Hodsdon, who entered the game with a 10-1 record and a 2.73 earned run average, was touched for eight hits, six runs and three walks in just five innings of work. Kirk Nieuwenhuis went 3-for-5 with three RBI to lead APU

Despite being hit around and allowing 12 hits and four walks, Spring Arbor's Brad Hinkle improved to 14-0 and went the distance in the win over Walsh. Jon Schaible led Spring Arbor at the plate by going 5-for-6 with three run scored. Teammates Jesse Bachman, Matt Coulter and Brad Baker each went 2-for-5 in the win, while Jeff Tebau finished the game 3-for-3 and provided an RBI single that allowed two more runners to score with an error on the play.

Walsh (29-29) fell behind early but scored five runs over the game's middle three innings to take control. However, Spring Arbor managed to score the final five runs of the game in the eighth and ninth innings to come away with the three-run win.

Cumberland (48-20-1) never found an answer to HBU starter Matthew Headley (12-4), who went the distance and scattered eight hits and two walks. He also struck out six and gave up only

one earned run. HBU (41-20) also used three hits and three RBI from Michael Crabtree in the win.

Cumberland was led by Jeremy Wilson's two hits.

Despite just 12 hits and nine runs in a 12-inning game, Lee's win over St. Thomas didn't come easy. The game lasted 4-hours and 15 minutes and took Aaron Simmons' sacrifice fly to center with the bases loaded to end it. Right-field Andrew Shaver's lead-off ground-rule double set the stage in the bottom of the 12th inning for Lee (51-14). Simmons, Andrew Shaver, and Elvis Sosa had two hits apiece for Lee. Hamzeld Diaz and Aliercy Nunez both had a hit and an RBI for Saint Thomas (46-16-1).

The tournament now takes Sunday off before resuming action in four games on Monday The early game has Walsh against Houston Baptist at 8:30 a.m., followed by Lee and Azusa Pacific at noon. The winner's bracket has Lindenwood facing Bellevue University of Nebraska (45-14) at 3 p.m., followed by Spring Arbor (46-3) against Lewis-Clark State (54-5) at 7 p.m.