Storybook Season Comes to an End

May 28 | Things have come full circle. The Spring Arbor University baseball team kicked off it's NAIA World Series semi-final game against the Lewis-Clark Warriors, who enjoy home field advantage throughout the series today at 6:00 p.m.

May 28 | The two teams faced off twice last season and each time the Warriors came out on top, with the most important of the two games being the national championship game in the final round of the 2007 NAIA World Series.

The Cougars and the Warriors played scoreless baseball today through the first two innings of play before Lewis Clark broke the ice with a solo tally that occurred after the first base umpire ruled that a ball in the dirt bounced up and got entangled in catcher Luke Rider's equipment and allowed a walked batter to advance to second base automatically as a result. A two out single drove in the first run of the game for the Warriors.

Things went from bad to worse for Spring Arbor as LCSC followed up in the fourth frame with a trio of runs. A pair of errors by the Cougars allowed the Warriors to capitalize and extend their lead to 4-0.

As has been the case all series long the Cougars dug deep and roared to life in their bats in the fifth frame.  Seth Michael ripped a triple down the right field line and Jesse Bachman knocked a single to drive him in and open the scoring for Spring Arbor.

Lewis Clark responded with a pair of runs in the tip of the sixth, but Spring Arbor battled right back with two of their own in the bottom of the inning.  Luke Rider drove in Seth Michael and Eric Vojtkofsky to make the score 6-3.

Joe Myers entered the game and set the Warriors down in order in the top of the seventh, and the Cougars chipped away again in the bottom of the seventh frame.  After a Jim Baker single, Brad Baker drove in courtesy runner Brad Wolfe to pull Spring Arbor to within two runs again at 6-4.

The Warriors were not to be denied however and exploded for three more runs in the top of the ninth inning, and the Cougars were unable to keep pace, allowing LCSC to escape with a 9-4 win, ending another storybook season  for Spring Arbor.

Check back to this site for more news on the Cougars outstanding season over the next few days.