By Taylor Hodges
HENDERSON, Tenn. – The Lions (47-15) are headed back to Idaho after defeating Oklahoma Wesleyan (46-11) 5-4 in the winner-take-all game on Thursday in the Henderson Bracket of the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.
After the Eagles were able to defeat the Lions 8-3 on Tuesday, the hosts were forced to win three straight games in order to punch their ticket to the 2019 Avista-NAIA World Series. After Jacob Sawyers pitched a monster complete game in the 5-1 win over Texas Wesleyan and Tyson Campbell threw 149 pitches in eight and two-thirds innings to defeat the Eagles 7-4, both on Wednesday, the Lions had the chance to win the rubber match with the No. 1 seed and prevailed.
The game was everything one would expect out of a win-or-go-home matchup between two of the strongest teams in the nation. The Eagles got on the board first in the second inning with two runs off the Lions’ ace Alex Huey, who was starting the game on only two days rest after throwing 108 pitches in the opening game against Texas Wesleyan on Monday.
The Lions were able to cut that lead in half in the bottom of the second when Dom Pisano knocked in his sixth RBI in the three matchups against Oklahoma Wesleyan with a sacrifice fly that plated Collin McPherson.
After Huey was able to blank the Eagles in the top of the third, Christian Busby led off the bottom half of the inning with a monster solo shot over the left-field wall that tied the game 2-2.
After two and a half more innings of scoreless baseball, the hosts were able to snag their first lead of the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning when they scored two runs.
Second baseman Zach Sanders led the inning off with a single to left field. With one out in the inning, McPherson stepped to the plate and brought Sanders home with an opposite-field double down the first-base line.
The senior first baseman was then brought home for the second run of the inning when fellow senior De’Mikyle Holmes hit a single through the hole between the third baseman and short stop.
The Eagles got both of those runs back to tie the game in the top of the seventh, first with a solo home run by Colton Kelly to lead off the inning and a sacrifice fly by Austin Sojka that scored Tyson Cronin.
With the game all knotted up yet again heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Lions were able to regain the lead when Cody McSwain entered as a pinch hitter for Busby with Pisano on the bag at third and only one away.
McSwain found a pitch he liked and pulled the ball in between Brice Smith at first base and the bag, allowing Pisano to virtually walk to home plate as the go-ahead run.
After Huey threw five and one-thirds innings and Tyrek White came in the game in relief to throw two-thirds of an inning, Landon Sewell entered and finished the game for the Lions and earned the win after three full innings of work.
The junior right hander was able to put the bottom of the Eagles lineup away in order in the bottom of the ninth to seal the win and earn the Lions’ second straight World Series berth.
The crowds throughout the week in support of the Lions were strong due to Henderson being named one of the nine host sites for this year’s Opening Round.
Head coach Jonathan Estes was adamant about the strength of his team to fight back after falling on Tuesday, and he gave a lot of credit to the crowds that supported the host team.
“This was such a special experience, being at home, being able to host, and to play in front of our fans and our community,” Estes said.
“Our community showed up in numbers, Freed-Hardeman showed up in numbers, our fans showed up in numbers, and it was such a fun experience. We knew that even though we lost the other day, we knew that we would be able to accomplish great things because this team has shown that we are able to do that, not only this year, but in the past. It was such a great experience to be able to do this on our home field. It’s something that I’m not ever going to forget, and I’m sure these players and these fans won’t as well.”
The bracket for the 2019 Avista-NAIA World Series will be released on Friday no later than 2 p.m.
(PHOTO: FHU wins NAIA National Tournament Opening Round – courtesy Taylor Hodges, FHU sports information director)
David Thomas, Twitter – @DavidThomasWNWS
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