LEWISTON, ID – It was a slugfest for the NAIA baseball national championship on Friday, but the Lewis-Clark State Warriors and Douglas High School grad Jeremiah Robbins prevailed in a 12-11 win over Faulkner to claim their second consecutive national title.
Robbins, a former Doc Stewart’s head coach, guided the Warriors to an NAIA record 18th championship. The contest was highlighted by the long ball. LCSC hit six home runs in the game, while top-seeded Faulkner hit five.
The scoring started in the second inning, when the Warriors got two solo home runs to take a 2-0 lead. A 2-run homer in the home half of the second from Faulkner tied the score. Both sides added a run in the fourth, but LCSC retook the lead with three runs in the top of the fifth. Trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Faulkner took its first lead of the day thanks to a 3-run blast and a solo shot.
Lewis-Clark State didn’t trail for long. The Warriors moved in front for good with four runs in the sixth and another two in the seventh. The score was 12-8 in favor of the Warriors heading to the bottom of the ninth.
LCSC pitching struck out the first two hitters and needed just one more out to clinch the victory, but Faulkner started a rally. The Eagles loaded the bases on a single, walk, and a single. A third single drove in the first run of the rally. The very next batter again singled to left field and two more runs came in for Faulkner to make the score 12-11, but the final out was made on the relay throw and a tag play at third base.
This was Robbins’ fourth straight trip to the national championship game and his second time winning the title. His LCSC Warriors finished the year with a 52-8 overall record.
– Joey Keeran | joey@bciradio.com | @joeykeeran
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