GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- Chattanooga State's first appearance in the NJCAA Division I baseball World Series concluded with one losers-bracket win and almost another one, but the Tigers ended their season with a 40-17 record by falling 8-7 on Monday to Temple (Texas) College.
Zach Cohen homered twice and batted in three runs and Colten Boothe was 4-for-4 with a home run and a triple for Temple (39-24), and their solo homers in the eighth inning off Max Aeschlimann put the Leopards ahead.
Leadoff batter Gabe Herman was 4-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored for Chattanooga State, and he singled in the top of the ninth after J.D. Pullen was hit by a pitch with one out. But Michael Maxwell, the Tigers' leading hitter for the season and their first-team all-conference player, grounded to shortstop for a game-ending double play.
Pullen was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Isaac Davenport and Andy Marinelli each was 3-for-5 with a double and Davenport, Zack DeBord and Taylor Eaves each scored two runs for the Tigers. Maxwell and Marinelli each had one RBI.
Starting pitcher Brandon Elrod gave up five hits and three runs, one earned, in four innings and Chattanooga State led 5-3 after five.
After Temple scored three runs in the sixth, including a two-run Cohen homer, the Tigers moved back ahead with a two-run seventh. Davenport doubled with one out, Eaves walked, Pullen loaded the bases with a bunt single and Davenport scored when Herman was hit by a pitch. Maxwell then greeted the Leopards' fourth pitcher with an RBI single to right field, but Marinelli struck out and Brandon Parrent came in to pitch and got a forceout from Adam Whitlock.
Lee whips top seed
LEWISTON, Idaho -- Scott Swinson improved his season pitching record to 11-0 as fourth-seeded Lee University from Cleveland, Tenn., blanked top-seeded host Lewis-Clark State College 8-0 in the last game played Monday night in the NAIA World Series.
Lee is scheduled to face another Tennessee team, Cumberland University of Lebanon, in the winners-bracket final at 10 EDT tonight. Kris Miller hit his 24th and 25th home runs of the season and Shawn Schaefer pitched a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts as Cumberland beat No. 6 seed Oklahoma City University 8-1.
Swinson pitched a complete-game four-hitter with 11 strikeouts and one walk for the Flames (51-11), who after beating defending champion Lubbock Christian on Friday collected 10 hits against 16-time champ LCSC (48-4). Jason Hague was 2-for-2 and Pat Murray was 2-for-4 for the Warriors, who made four errors while Lee had none.
Former Chattanooga State standout Trey Burstrom was 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored for the Flames, while Seth Walker was 2-for-4 and scored twice and Baylor School graduate Michael Brown from Hixson doubled twice and drove in two runs. Before his two RBIs, Brown got Junior Rodriguez home for a 1-0 lead when he reached base on an error in the first inning. Rodriguez had been hit by a pitch with two outs.
Rodriguez made it 2-0 with an RBI walk in the second inning. The Flames scored another run in the sixth, two in the seventh and three in the eighth.