Avista NAIA World Series Preview: LSU Shreveport
May 26, 2022

Avista NAIA World Series Preview: LSU Shreveport

5th-seeded Bellevue opens play at the 65th Avista NAIA World Series against 4th-seeded LSU Shreveport on Friday.

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LEWISTON, Idaho -- The Bellevue University baseball team, after arriving in Lewiston on Tuesday and Wednesday, is ready to open the final leg of their quest for an NAIA National Championship at the 2022 Avista-NAIA World Series.

Bellevue is making their 15th appearance in the World Series, and third under head coach Duane Monlux (2016, 2019).

The 65th annual event takes place May 27-June 3 at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho for the 17th-consecutive season and 25th time overall.

The World Series is a 10-team, double-elimination tournament with the winner being crowned either June 2 or June 3.

Comprising the tournament field are 10 teams. In seeded order, they are; Southeastern (Fla.), Tennessee Wesleyan, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), LSU Shreveport, Bellevue, Westmont (Calif.), Faulkner (Ala.), Georgia Gwinnett, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), and Webber International (Fla.).

Stretch Internet will be broadcasting the first 15 games of the 2016 Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series. Day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-World Series ticket is available for $34.95. Games played June 1-3 are going to be delivered on ESPN3.

Friday's Match-Up:

Bellevue (48-11, 25-2 NSAA) rolled through the regular-season, winning the NSAA title by 8.5 games before going on to sweep their way through the NSAA Tournament, out-scoring their opposition 38-2 behind four complete games by their pitching staff. As the top seed in the Opening Round Bellevue Bracket, BU defeated Judson and Tabor behind two more complete game efforts to reach the championship round. After falling to Concordia, the Bruins won a winner-take-all game over the Bulldogs, 5-2, to reach their 15th Avista NAIA World Series.

LSU Shreveport (51-6, 31-2 RRAC) won the Red River Athletic Conference regular-season title to claim a spot in the 2022 NAIA National Tournament. Despite a disappointing 0-2 performance in their conference tournament, the Pilots were named the top seed in the Opening Round Shreveport Bracket. There, LSUS dropped their opener to Loyola before rattling off four-straight elimination game victories, including double-dipping the Wolfpack 16-2 and 9-7 to advance to the program's second-straight Avista NAIA World Series and fifth overall.

Notes:

  • Bellevue and LSU Shreveport have met just twice before. The Pilots won 8-6 back in 2009 and the Bruins defeated LSUS 10-7 in the 2019 Opening Round Shreveport Bracket en route to their last World Series appearance.
  • In their previous 14 NAIA World Series appearances, BU has racked up 22 victories, winning the 1995 National Championship, finishing runner-up in 1997, and recording a third place finish in 2016.
  • The Bruins are 7-7 all-time in their World Series opener. It's worth noting that the Bruins lost their opener in 1995 and bounced back to win five-straight elimination games to claim the school's only National Championship in any sport. For their efforts, the 1995 Bellevue Baseball team was inducted into the BU Athletics Hall of Fame back in 2018.
  • Each of Bellevue's last two openers at the World Series have gone extra innings: BU defeated Auburn-Montgomery 6-5 in 2016 and fell to Indiana Tech 3-2 in 2019.
  • Bellevue's Kanta Kobayashi leads the NAIA in hits with 105 while Elijah Johnson leads the NAIA with 147 strikeouts.

Probable Starting Lineups:

#5 Bellevue - .352 AVG, 9.3 RPG, 102 HR // 3.86 Team ERA, 9.74 K/9

  • CF - Kanta Kobayashi (.449/1.169, 30 XBH, 42 RBI) NSAA Newcomer of the Year
  • RF - Conner Barnett (.406/1.127, 27 XBH, 57 RBI) First team all-NSAA
  • SS - Alec Ackerman (.380/1.172, 37 XBH, 71 RBI) NSAA Player of the Year
  • C - Brenton Davis (.387/1.264, 25 XBH, 49 RBI) First team all-NSAA
  • 2B - Josh Vaughan (.358/.932, 15 XBH, 29 RBI) First team all-NSAA
  • 1B - Alex Stufft (.320/.878, 23 XBH, 43 RBI) First team all-NSAA
  • LF - Mathieu Sirois (.311/.988, 20 XBH, 48 RBI) Second team all-NSAA
  • DH - Andrew Ishii (.353/1.060, 21 XBH, 40 RBI) Second team all-NSAA
  • 3B - Zach Diehl (.269/.783, 20 XBH, 44 RBI) Second team all-NSAA
  • RHP - Elijah Johnson (11-2, 2.05 ERA, 147 SO) NSAA Pitcher of the Year

#4 LSU Shreveport - .360 AVG, 11.2 RPG, 69 HR // 3.60 Team ERA, 11.38 K/9

  • RF - Carlos Pineyro (.361/.961, 13 XBH, 42 RBI) First team all-RRAC
  • SS - Austin McNicholas (.399/1.080, 30 XBH, 48 RBI) RRAC Player of the Year
  • 1B - Zyon Avery (.358/1.023, 25 XBH, 69 RBI) First team all-RRAC
  • LF - Ryan Major (.455/1.184, 22 XBH, 52 RBI) First team all-RRAC
  • C - Josh Wunnenberg (.341/1.112, 19 XBH, 40 RBI) First team all-RRAC
  • 3B - Julian Flores (.430/1.315, 25 XBH, 57 RBI) First team all-RRAC
  • DH - Allbry Major (.336/1.036, 18 XBH, 50 RBI)
  • 2B - JB Trees (.322/.936, 9 XBH, 25 RBI) First team all-RRAC
  • CF - Trevor Burkhart (.326/.920, 11 XBH, 36 RBI) Second team all-RRAC
  • RHP - Bobby Vath (12-0, 2.23 ERA, 117 SO) RRAC Newcomer of the Year

What's Next?:

The winner of the Bellevue-LSU Shreveport stands to be in great position as they would not play again until 3 p.m. on Monday, May 30 against the winner of Southeastern and Georgia Gwinnett-MidAmerica Nazarene. The loser has a long road ahead of them, dropping to the loser's bracket where they would face the loser of Georgia Gwinnett-MidAmerica Nazarene.

Avista-NAIA World Series | Harris Field | Lewiston, Idaho

Friday Schedule (Note: all times Pacific):

Game 1: No. 8 Georgia Gwinnett vs. No. 9 MidAmerica Nazarene, 8:30 a.m.
Game 2: No. 4 LSU Shreveport vs. No. 5 Bellevue, 11:30 a.m.
Game 3: No. 7 Faulkner vs. No. 10 Webber International, 3 p.m.
 OPENING CEREMONY, 6 p.m.
Game 4: No. 3 Lewis-Clark State vs. No. 6 Westmont 7 p.m.