SCC Will Begin Play in NAIA World Series

The Southern California College baseball team opens play in the NAIA World Series today when the Vanguards meet Phillips College of Oklahoma at 5 p.m. at Lewiston, Ida.

The game is one of four first-round matchups at Harris Field on the campus of host and defending NAIA champion Lewis-Clark State College. Elon College (North Carolina) plays the College of St. Francis (Illinois) at 10 a.m., Dallas Baptist plays Southern Maine at 1:30 p.m. and Lewis-Clark plays Grand View College (Iowa) at 8.

Both Northern Kentucky and Georgia College received byes into the second round of the 10-team tournament and will begin play Tuesday.

If SCC (43-18-2) wins its first-round game, it will get a bye into Wednesday’s third round. Twice, the Vanguards won three straight games in the loser’s bracket to win their division and area championships.

SCC advanced to the World Series by defeating Linfield College, 8-6, last Saturday. Though the Vanguards have the lowest team batting average in the tournament (.292), they have stolen 247 bases. Terry Gaunt has been successful on 38 of 43 attempts, and Thomas Link has 34 steals.

Offensively, SCC is led by David Turney, who is hitting .369 with 38 RBIs. The Vanguards will rely on pitchers Brian Otten (16-5) and Eduardo Andrews (11-3) to shut down a powerful Phillips lineup, which has hit 92 home runs this season.

The Haymakers (50-16) are paced by Chris Cotter, who has 21 homers and 80 RBIs and Lou Carbonare, who has 21 homers and 76 RBIs. Phillips has a team earned-run average of 3.88 behind pitchers Mike Adams, who is 10-4 and has 123 strikeouts, and Frank Snyder, who is 12-3.

For SCC and Coach Rich Emard, this is their first trip to the NAIA World Series. The double-elimination tournament will run until June 2 if necessary.