May 26, 2006

LEWISTON, Idaho - Justin Bird's one-out base-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Concordia University of Irvine, Calif., a wild 5-4 win over Seton Hill College of Pennsylvania in the first round of the 50th annual Avista NAIA World Series at Lewis-Clark State College's Harris Field.

Concordia, 34-15-1, scored three runs in the first inning and never trailed, but Seton Hill managed to score two runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game and had two runners on base before relief pitcher Tahylor Law shut the door with a fly out and a ground out.

In the bottom of the ninth, Brett Shaw started the Concordia rally with his first hit of the game, a single. After a sacrifice bunt moved Shaw to second, Daniel Robertson was intentionally walked to set up a double play. However, Brent Dohling also drew a walk to load the bases and Bird followed with his line drive single to right to end the game.

Concordia, the eighth seed in the 10-team double-elimination tournament, appeared to score all the runs it needed in the first inning off of Seton Hill starter Matt Nelson. Robertson began the game with a double and scored on a single by Dohling. A walk, two sacrifice flies and an error produced two more runs.

Seton Hill, the ninth seed, cut the margin to 3-2 in the top of the fifth. Darrell Kuntz drew a two-out walk and consecutive singles by Matt Musiak and Mike McCarthy produced a run. A wild pitch allowed the second run to score.

The Eagles made it 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh on a solo home run by pinch-hitter Nate Fisk.

Seton Hill rallied to tie the game as Jerry Harness hit a solo home run and Jason Creighton hit an RBI single. The rally, however, ended there for the Griffins, 45-19, as Law came in to get the final two outs and eventually earn the win to improve to 6-0. Dan Burkintas, the second of three Seton Hill pitchers, took the loss to fall to 2-3.

Concordia starter Jon Conley went 6.2 innings and allowed seven hits and two runs, with three walks and three strikeouts. His counterpart, Matt Nelson, overcame a rough first inning and also went 6.2 innings, allowing five hits and four runs. He walked two and struck out four.

Musiak and Steve Long had two hits apiece for Seton Hill, while Bird paced Concordia with three hits.

Concordia will now take on top seed Embry-Riddle of Daytona Beach, Fla., on Saturday at 7 p.m., Pacific time. Seton Hill falls into the loser's bracket and will face the loser of Friday's Cumberland vs. Auburn-Montgomery game, on Saturday at 8:30 a.m.