(Lewiston, ID) After winning their first game of the NAIA Opening Round over USAO, the Concordia Cardinals took on the hosts, Lewis-Clark State on Tuesday evening. With a first pitch delayed by lightning, neither team was able to separate from the other by a large margin for long. The Warriors ultimately came away with the one run lead to remain undefeated in the opening round, while the Cardinals will need to win a trio of win-or-go-home games to win the opening round moving forward.
Timothy Pomaville started on the mound for the Cardinals and went six innings, giving up four runs while striking out four. Kenneth (Dave) Rozmys and Evan Jasiak both pitched an inning in relief, with the former giving up a lone run, which proved to be the winning run for the Warriors.
Both starting pitchers went two innings without giving up a hit, and only gave up one in the first three.
The Cardinals drew first blood in the top of the fourth when Jarrett Batanian legged out an infield single which scored the courtesy runner, Tyler Wressel. Batanian and Jordan Sherman scored later in the inning off of an error to give Concordia a three-run lead.
The Warriors loaded the bases in the bottom half of the fourth, which led to an Isaiah Thomas grand slam to give Lewis-Clark the one run advantage. Jordan Sherman had a chance with a pair of runners on in the top of the fifth, but hit a fly ball to the left field warning track for the final out of the inning.
It was then Jarrett Batanian who evened things up at four a piece in the top of the sixth with a solo shot to right field.
The Warriors loaded the bases again in the bottom of the sixth, but Pomaville struck out Nick Seamons to get out of the jam. Kenneth (Dave) Rozmys relieved Pomaville in the seventh inning. The reliever gave up the lead in the bottom of the inning on a single to left center, and was ultimately tagged with the loss for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals were held scoreless in the final three innings, preserving the lead for the Warriors and leading to Lewis-Clark State's 5-4 win.
The Cardinals will square off as the home side against Science & Arts at 3:30pm ET on Wednesday in a win or go home matchup. The Cardinals will need to win three straight games to advance to the NAIA World Series.
