Warters homers to lift Lee past Fresno Pacific 5-4
May 25, 2009
Story courtesy of Bert Sahlberg, Media Coordinator
LEWISTON, Idaho – (Box score) Chris Warters’ two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning proved to be the difference as Lee University (Tenn.) rallied to defeat Fresno Pacific University (Calif.) 5-4 in a loser-out contest at the 53rd annual Avista-NAIA World Series at Harris Field on Monday (May 25).
Lee led early 1-0, but trailed entering the eighth inning when Warters hit his 18th home run of the season and second of the tournament.
Lee (52-13) picked up its run off of FPU starter Jacob Burns in the third when Chris Dubon singled and was replaced by courtesy runner Jeff Ramirez. After a sacrifice bunt and a ground out, Brian Bistagne singled to right-center field for the 1-0 lead.
Fresno Pacific (40-21) struck for three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Dwight Nixon, who had a walk-off home run in the Sunbirds’ win on Saturday, smacked a solo home run to start the inning. It was his ninth home run of the season. Anthony Lowell and Joey Norwood followed with back-to-back doubles to make it 2-1 and Norwood later scored on a sacrifice fly by David Hawes.
Lee picked up solo runs in the sixth and seventh innings to tie the game. Elvis Sosa had an RBI single in the sixth, while Trey Burstrom doubled in a run in the seventh.
Fresno Pacific regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh when Karlan Andrews singled and went to third on a single by Jared Coleman. Tyler Pryor then grounded into a double play to score Andrews.
In the top of the eighth, FPU committed two errors, the first on a grounder to the shortstop hit by Julian Alvarez to start the inning. Warters then followed with his blast to right field to finish the scoring.
Junior Rodriguez and Dubon had two hits apiece for Lee, which finished with eight hits. Warters was the only player in the game to have more than one RBI.
Lowell had three hits for FPU, while Norwood added two.
FPU starters Jacob Burns struck out eight and allowed only four hits and two runs through six innings. Kelyn Schellenberg, who gave up the home run, took the loss. Lee closer Pablo Lopez pitched the final three innings and gave up just one hit and struck out three to earn the win and improve to 5-2.
Lee is scheduled to play at 3 p.m. on Tuesday against the loser of the Point Loma-Oklahoma City loser, but pairings may be changed after Monday’s play so that teams that have played each other won’t be paired to play again on Tuesday, according to NAIA rules. Fresno Pacific was making its first Series trip.
For more information, click here.
