No. 7 Grenadiers Defeat No. 10 Concordia (Neb.) 4-2 In NAIA World Series Opener
LEWISTON, Idaho – Behind solid pitching and some timely hitting, the No. 7-seeded IU Southeast baseball team defeated No. 10 Concordia (Neb.) in the Avista NAIA World Series debut for both teams.
IU Southeast (49-14) got a two-out double in the bottom of the first from Brody Tanksley and Marco Romero was hit by a pitch but the inning ended on a fielder's choice to third to end the threat.
When the Bulldogs (42-11) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third after a single, hit batsman and a fielder's choice, Gavin Knust came on in relief of starter Cade Reynolds.
Knust struck out Joey Grabanski and recorded a groundout from Keaton Candor to end the inning.
IU Southeast opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth when Tanksley and Romero had back-to-back singles. Courtesy runner Brandon Boxer moved to third on a fly out. He scored on a RBI groundout by John Ullom.
In the fifth, Clay Woeste drew a walk and stole second. He scored on an error by shortstop Jose Cevallos when he misplayed a hard ground ball to off the bat of Drew Hensley.
Gavin Knust worked four innings of relief for the Grenadiers and shut down the Bulldog offense until the seventh when Jakob Faulk singled and Tery Johnson was hit by a pitch. Conner Fries replaced Knust struck out Janssen looking and got a groundout from Jayden Adams to end the threat.
In the bottom of the frame, Drew Hensley drew a walk and scored on a two-run home run by Marco Romero to left-center, his seventh of the season.
The Bulldogs responded in the top of the eighth when they opened the inning with three-straight singles chasing Fries. Jacob Frankel entered and promptly recorded a popout in foul territory of Jesse Garcia for the first out of the inning. Ben Berg singled to center to score two runs and cut the lead in half, but Faulk flied out to right and Johnson flew out to left to end the inning.
Brayden Hazelwood advanced to third with two outs in the bottom of the eighth after stealing second and moving to third on flyout but was stranded there.
After a hard groundout to first and a lineout to first, Beau Dorman doubled to left, but Frankel struck out Grabanski on three pitches to secure the first World Series win in school history for the Grenadiers.
Gavin Knust worked four shutout innings and allowed two hits while striking out five for his second win of the year and of the postseason. Frankel earned his fifth save. Marco Romero finished 2-for-2 with a run scored, two RBI and he was hit twice. Brody Tanksley was 2-for-4 with a RBI.
IU Southeast will face No. 2 Central Methodist Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET. The game is rematch from Feb. 21 that saw Central Methodist defeat the Grenadiers 10-3. Daunte DeCello had two hits and Tanksley had a home run in the loss.
With Friday's win, the Grenadiers set a new program record for single-season wins at 49.
