LEWISTON, Idaho – (Box Score) No. 8 Antelope Valley (Calif.) scored 10-or-more runs for the 25th time this season, as the Pioneers slugged their way to a 15-4 win against No. 10 University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) Monday afternoon at the 2018 Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series.
With the win, Antelope Valley improves to 46-13-1 on the year and advances to play the loser of No. 6 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) and No. 7 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.). The Pioneers are in their first-ever appearance at the World Series.
“We’ve been a good offensive team all year and we seem to have games like that quite frequently,” said Antelope Valley head coach Jacob Garsez. “We did a good job of carrying the momentum from at-bat to at-bat. It was nice to see our guys play our game. What we did well though was keep adding on, which is important when you’re playing good teams and playoff baseball.”
Eight different Pioneers had at least one hit in the game, including three-hit performances by Nathaniel Broaddus and Cory McKendrick. Broaddus was 3-for-6 with two RBI and two runs scored, while McKendrick ended the day 3-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored.
Jesse Garcia (8-4) tossed seven innings en route to his eighth win of the season. The Hawthorne, Calif., native allowed seven hits, one run, and three walks, while striking out five.
After giving up a run in the bottom of the first to UNOH, Antelope Valley responded in a big way with four runs in the second inning and three runs in the third to build an early 7-1 lead.
Antelope Valley’s hot hitting continued in the fourth, highlighted by a two-run bases-clearing triple by Broaddus. The triple is his third of the season and first since February 10 against Oregon Tech.
A wild pitch in the top of the sixth pushed the Antelope Valley lead to 10-1.
Jake Harrison capped a five-run seventh inning for the Pioneers with his first grand slam home run of the season and this year’s World Series. James Land of William Carey (Miss.) in 2017 was the last player to hit a grand slam at the World Series. Harrison, who had a game-high five RBI in the contest, now has eight home runs on the year and two at the World Series.
UNOH made some noise in the bottom of the eight, including a two-run home run by Junior Gomez, to cut the deficit to 15-4. However, the Racers would get no closer.
Jack Barrie, Erich Gonzalez, Jose Paulino and Myles Miller all had multi-hit days for UNOH en route to 12 total hits. The Racers stranded 10 individuals on the bases in the game.
The Racers tied an NAIA World Series record with nine pitchers used in the game.
UNOH ends the season with a 43-20 record on the year and finishes 1-2 in its first-ever World Series appearance.