Championship host and No. 4 seed Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) remained unbeaten at the 2015 Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series Monday night with a 7-4 win over No. 8 Concordia (Calif.) late Monday night.  With the loss, the Eagles fell to 49-17 on the season and dropped into the elimination bracket to play No. 6 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) at 3 p.m. PDT today.  No. 6 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) survived Tuesday afternoon to down No. 8 Concordia (Calif.), 6-5, in an elimination game.

Leading 6-4 entering the ninth inning, a leadoff walk and single by Mitchell Esser (SR/San Diego, CA) put the runners at second and third for Concordia with no outs in the ninth. Esser advanced to second on a throw to third by the Embry-Riddle right fielder, while Nielsen went first-to-third on the play.

Back-to-back strikeouts by Embry-Riddle's Corey Tufts made it a two-out situation for Robert Shiroky(SR/Henderson, NV). Shiroky hit a grounder to the Embry-Riddle shortstop, who misplayed the ball and allowed Concordia to score a run. However, the rally was cut short, as the second CUI baserunner was cut down heading home.

Collin Orellana (SO/Vista, CA) started for CUI and had a rocky one-inning, four run, two hit, three-walk affair and fell to 6-3.  Nick Boyett (JR/Richmond, CA) was excellent in five and two-thirds innings of relief, scattering two runs, one earned, five hits, with four K's.  Tyler Mark(JR/Los Angeles, CA) was his usual stellar self with three strikeouts in an inning and a third, as he was untouched in his final appearance as an Eagle.  Tino Leite (JR/Rodeo, CA) and John Doering (SR/Newport Coast, CA) had late doubles for the Eagles, who had five hits as a team.  Despite only having five hits, CUI did strand 10 runners as they drew seven walks and had three batters hit.  The Eagles produced runs early with sacrifices and RBI-groundouts and it paid dividends later, giving them the late chance. 

For the fourth straight game, Ryan Goodman (SR/Upland, CA) opened the game with a walk, but was immediately picked off gambling.  The Eagles went quickly after that.  A walk, wild pitch, and fly out put an ERAU runner on third with one out in the first.  After a walk, ERAU shot a ball to deep center for a three-run homer and they led 3-0.  CUI could not take advantage of a walk and hit batter in the second.  ERAU opened the bottom of the second with a homer to right field, and Orellana was replaced by Boyett.  The first batter put a double in the left center gap, and a sac fly made it 5-0.  CUI did not get a hit in the third and ERAU was equally as quiet as Boyett K'd two in the inning.

John Bornhop (JR/Orange, CA) picked up CUI's first hit, a single to open the fourth and Robert Shiroky followed with a walk in a repeat setting of the second inning.  A sacrifice bunt and RBI-groundout got CUI on the board.  Two groundouts and a flyout, and Boyett was through the fourth.  CUI went in order in the fifth and Boyett was great again in the bottom frame.  CUI drew a walk to open the sixth.  Another walk and double steal put two in scoring position with one out, and an RBI-groundout made it 5-2 as the inning ended a batter later.  ERAU led off the bottom with a single and sacrificed the runner over, and a two-out single took that run back, 6-2. 

ERAU hit two Eagle batters to start the seventh, and CUI sacrificed them both over.  Two groundouts kept CUI off the board in the inning.  One infield single off Boyett and one off Mark put two runners on for ERAU with two out in the bottom of the seventh.  Mark forced a flyout to keep the four-run difference.  Shiroky singled to center with one out in the eighth and a deep fly to center moved him a base with two out.  Tino Leite smacked a pinch-hit double to right and John Doering made it 6-4 with a double in the left-center gap, closing the gap two runs in the inning.  Mark struck out the side in the eighth, and CUI came back to the plate looking for two.  Spencer Nielsen (SO/Lakeside, CA) walked to open the ninth, and Esser singled to right, and took second on the throw.  Two straight strikeouts kept the runners in place and an error let one run score, but the second runner got caught in a rundown at third and the tag ended the game. 

Concordia was 0-3 all-time against ERAU, and 0-2 in World Series contests entering the day.  CUI fell 4-7 in 2006 and 3-9 in 2011, their lone loss on the way to their national title.  The last meeting came in 2013, as Concordia fell 6-7 in the NAIA Opening Round to ERAU on their field in Daytona Beach, FL.

Concordia finished their season at 49-18, the most wins in school history, eclipsing the 43 from 2011.  With the game, Concordia's NAIA era officially comes to a close, as all programs are now in transition to the PacWest Conference and NCAA DII for the 2015-16 season.  Look for a full season recap in the coming weeks at cuieagles.com.