NAIA WORLD SERIES: L-C State captures 18th national title

| June 4, 2016 9:00 PM

LEWISTON — Micah Brown hit two of Lewis-Clark State’s six home runs, and the fourth-seeded Warriors held on to beat top-seeded Faulkner (Ala.) 12-11 in the championship game of the NAIA World Series on Friday night at Harris Field.

Lewis-Clark State (52-8) won its 18th national title, and second in a row.

A total of 11 home runs were hit, an all-time single-game NAIA World Series record.

Lewis-Clark State took the lead for good with a four-run sixth inning to go up 10-7. Gunnar Buhner, son of former Seattle Mariner Jay Buhner, hit a two-run double to give the Warriors to lead, and Julian Ramon followed with a two-run homer.

Brown and Tyler McDowell hit back-to-back homers in the seventh as LCSC expanded its lead to 12-7.

Dennis Morton hit three home runs for Faulkner (53-15). He hit a two-run shot in the third, a solo shot in the fifth to put his team up 7-6, and another solo homer in the eighth to make it 12-8.

Faulkner scored three more times in the bottom of the ninth, but had the tying run thrown out at third base to end the game.

JJ Robinson and Brown hit back-to-back homers in the second to put L-C State up 2-0. Jacob Zanon’s three-run homer gave LCSC a 6-3 lead in the fifth, but TJ Gordon of Faulkner, the 2013 champion, tied it with a three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth.