Fresno Pacific Athletics

    LEWISTON, Idaho -- Fresno Pacific, making its first appearance in the NAIA World Series, dropped its first-round game to host school Lewis-Clark State 5-0 on Friday as a crowd of 5,075 watched at Harris Field.
    The Sunbirds will face Embry-Riddle in an elimination game at noon today.
     Lewis-Clark, three-time defending national champion, parlayed three hits into three runs off Fresno Pacific ace Kelyn Schellenberg in the second inning. The big blow was a two-RBI double by Matt Allen.
    Bernard Pena's two-run homerun with Sean Halton aboard provided the final two runs in the eighth.
    The Sunbirds stranded eight batters against Warriors starter Colby Hawk. Lewis-Clark pulled off three double plays.
    "Hawk did a good job," Fresno Pacific coach Oscar Hirschkorn said. "We couldn't capitalize on our base runners." 
    Hirschkorn praised Schellenberg's performance, but said, "That second inning got away from him." 
    Hirschkorn saw his Sunbirds battle from the loser's bracket to win the regional, and believes they can do it in Lewiston, too.
    "We need to bring our bats," he said. "All it takes is a another solid pitching performance and we're back in it. It just comes down to getting hits with runners in scoring position."
    All the Sunbirds hits were by  Anthony Lowell# (4-for-4) and Jared Coleman (3-for-3).