EWISTON, Idaho. – William Carey’s special season came to an end as the Crusaders fell to Lewis-Clark State 15-6 on Wednesday in the semi-finals of the NAIA World Series.
Carey ends their season with an overall record of 49-11 and 22-2 mark in conference play.
Game Recap
Lewis-Clark jumped out to a 6-0 lead over Carey after two innings of play. However, the Crusader offense came to life in the top of the fourth inning. Patrick Lee and Preston Ratliff lead off the inning with a single and a walk followed by Rigoberto Hernandez ripping a two RBI triple down the rightfield line.
LCS’ Caleb Laird made it 6-3 with an RBI groundout. With two outs and two runners on base Bobby Lada tied the game at six all sending a shot over the centerfield wall. The game did not stay tied long though, as the Warriors retook the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lewis Clark retook the lead with a run in the bottom of the frame and then score two more runs in the fifth before breaking the game open with a 6-run inning in the seventh.
Bobby Lada finished 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs and Rigoberto Hernandez finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs while RJ Stinson had two hits and walked twice. LCS finished with 16 hits, including six home runs.
The Accolades
Some of the highlights for William Carey included winning the SSAC regular season and finishing runner-up in the SSAC tournament. This was also just the Crusaders’ fourth trip to the NAIA World Series in the history of the program.
The Crusaders racked up numerous all-conference awards, which included RJ Stinson being named the SSAC Player of the Year and Andrew Shirah being selected as Pitcher of the Year. In addition, Bobby Halford was named the SSAC Coach of the Year.
Earning First-Team All-Conference honors were Stinson, Shirah, Jake Lycette, Patrick Lee and Dario Herrera. Preston Ratliff and John Snyder earned Second-Team All-Conference honors. Lycette was also named a member of the SSAC Gold Glove team while Lane Jarreau made the All-Freshman team.
