Concordia Irvine Athletics

The Eagles, who finished at fourth place in the GSAC in the regular season, turned the season around in an historic way, and cap a streak of 25 wins over a span of 28 games with their first title in program history.

In its final hour, Concordia (43-19) did what it had done best throughout the second half of the year--rally.

The Eagles piled up five runs in the ninth inning to put a lop-sided figure on a game that had been up for grabs throughout the first eight frames, making it an easy call for head coach Mike Grahovac to stick with his ace, All-GSAC sophomore RHP Blake Harrison, for the ninth.

"It's a surreal moment," Harrison said. "I can't really wrap my mind around what's going on. In that last inning, I went up to Danny Casey ... and I said, 'Is this the national championship game?' It didn't even click in my head, I was so in the zone."

Harrison, whose three complete games in the month of April had buoyed a school-record 12-game winning streak for Concordia, ended up going the distance, where he allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and-- perhaps most impressively--zero walks against three strikeouts.

The Concordia ace was handed a 1-0 lead in the third inning, when Casey was hit with a pitch and came around to score on a two-out single by senior CF Matt Ivanoff, who was named the Series Most Valuable Player, Charles Berry Hustle Award and was one of 16 players chosen for the All-Tournament Team.

Lubbock Christian (50-14) answered back with a pair of runs in the home half of the third, only one of which was earned, but the Eagles would answer with three runs in the fourth inning--all of which came home on a two-out triple by senior 2B Robbie Knowles.

Concordia had loaded the bases with one out, but Casey popped up in foul territory to put Knowles in a two-out situation where he was asked to deliver a clutch hit.

"Our team has been like that all year," Knowles, himself an All-Tournament Team selection, said. "If one guy doesn't get the job done, the next guy picks him up. That's just because we got so close as a team ... It's just unreal."

Armed with a two-run lead, at 4-2, Harrison's advantage was quickly cut in half in the bottom of the fourth, when Lubbock Christian's Austin Stewart--who had yet to homer on the season--cracked his second round-tripper of the day to make it a 4-3 contest.

An All-Tournament Team honoree, Stewart had homered and driven in four runs in Lubbock Christian's win over Lee (TN) earlier in the day that put the Chaps through to the finale.

Harrison settled in from that point to set down 15 consecutive batters and preserve the one-run lead, but the Eagles sent 11 men to the plate in the ninth inning and plated five runs in the process to distance themselves from the Chaps and pave Harrison's way to the complete-game victory.

The ninth-inning rally got started with one out, when Ivanoff and fellow All-Tournament Team selection Kyle Konicek laced back-to-back triples, but there were two out and nobody on after Konicek scored on a sacrifice fly by senior C John Hill that made the score 6-3.

An opposite-field double by All-GSAC junior DH Bryan Nicholson kick-started the second half of the rally, and his pinch-runner, Tony Harkey, scored on an opposite-field single from senior RF Ryan Sheeks to stretch the advantage to four runs, at 7-3.

Sheeks then stole second to set up an RBI single from senior 1B Tyler Derby, who would score on a knock by Casey to run the final score to 9-3, but the Eagles were still threatening for more, when Ivanoff flew out to deep center field to end the threat.

"That's been our mentality all year long," Sheeks said. "We're going to fight for every pitch and we're going to win every pitch. That ninth inning shows that that's what this team's all about."

Concordia ends the Series with 12 stolen bases in just six games, eight more than the next-highest total and three more than the next-highest total of attempts.

The Eagles out-scored Lubbock Christian, the next-highest scoring of the 10-team field, by a 41-31 tally overall.

In addition to capturing Concordia Athletics' third national title (2003 men's basketball, 2000 women's cross country), the Eagles received the Hank Burbridge Champions of Character Team Award, which was recieved by three-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete Jacob McBride after the game.

"It's a great group of guys," Grahovac said. "They did everything right while we were out here, and they did everything right throughout the year--even when things were going wrong (on the field). It really showed for us."

McBride is one of two fifth-year seniors, along with Justin Baeza, who joined the team in 2007--the year after Concordia made its first trip to the Avista-NAIA World Series.

Another fourth-year senior enjoying the moment was Baeza's long-time teammate, dating back to Brawley, Calif., Little League, senior SS Edgar Guillen, who played every inning of the World Series and turned tonight's game-ending double play.

"For the alumni, this is for them too," Grahovac said. "We had a couple of them drive out for this, and it was awesome to have them ... I'm so happy for those guys (McBride, Baeza and Guillen). They've been doing everything they're supposed to be doing. They've worked hard for this, and they got it done. I'm so proud of them."

The GSAC's second "Charlie Hustle" award winner in the past three seasons, Ivanoff becomes the first MVP to come out of the GSAC, after hitting a scalding .417 (10-for-24) with seven runs scored and eight RBI to compliment two doubles and two triples.

Ivanoff's defensive play was also nothing short of spectacular throughout the series.

Knowles, meanwhile, hit .278 (5-for-18), but he came up with eight RBI, including three tonight and four in the Eagles' Series-opening win over Faulkner (AL).

Derby also makes the team in his second trip to the Series, but first in an Eagles jersey. On the series, he hit .389 (7-for-18) with six runs scored, a double and three RBI.

Konicek was the top hitter among teams that played more than three games, as he hit .444 (12-for-27) with two doubles, two triples, four runs scored and seven RBI.

The only Concordia pitcher selected to the All-Tournament Team, junior LHP Josh White pitched six scoreless innings over two relief appearances, earning the save in both contests. His efforts helped the Concordia bullpen to post an ERA of 0.56 in the Eagles' 12 postseason victories, as the 'pen allowed just two earned runs in 32 innings of work.

For the entire 2011 Avista-NAIA All-Tournament list, click here.

To view a gallery of action photos from tonight's game, click here.