SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Fresno Pacific came ready to play both offensively and defensively in their Regional Championship win over Bellevue. The Sunbirds managed a five-game win streak to win their opening round bracket ending with two straight wins over No. 11 Bellevue. The Sunbirds had 16 hits to Bellevue’s nine and only allowed one run in the their 10-1 win in the championship game.
Tyler Pryor finished off an amazing tournament with four RBIs hitting four-for-five for the game. Pryor had 13 RBIs in the entire tournament along with two homeruns and a batting average of 0.536, the most RBIs for the Sunbirds and only second in batting average to
Dwight Nixon, hitting 0.667.
The Sunbirds scattered their runs throughout the game and Danny Mora managed to keep Bellevue scoreless through six innings. Mora got the win pitching 7.1 innings and allowing eight hits and one run with two strikeouts. When Bellevue finally scored the Sunbirds were already ahead 8-1, and the Sunbirds immediately responded with two more run of their own later in the seventh inning bringing the score to the final 10-1.
The Sunbirds lost their opening game to Madonna University 12-11 in extra innings, and then had to face elimination in each of the following games taking the longer route to the Regional Championship game. However, after defeating Nebraska Wesleyan and Jamestown 9-7 and 14-5, respectively, the Sunbirds got their revenge in their rematch over Madonna, 6-2.
The Sunbirds finished the tournament sweeping Bellevue with decisive victories, winning 8-5 and then 10-1 in the championship game. After the Sunbirds were outhit 25-16 in game one and only narrowly lost, the Sunbirds outhit their opponents on average by five hits a game.
The Sunbirds now move on to the ten-team NAIA World Series which will be held in Lewiston, Idaho from May 22-29. Fresno Pacific is the No. 10 seed, and will open the tournament against the home team, No. 7 seed Lewis-Clark State on Friday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. Earlier this season the Sunbirds split 2-2 with Lewis-Clark in Lewiston, and will look to use their earlier success to advance to the next round.