LEWISTON, Idaho- The first time these teams met, the Trojans fell 7-4 to the Crusaders. One week later, they returned the favor with a 7-4 win of their own Thursday night at Harris Field, becoming the first team in the Avista NAIA World Series to advance to Saturday’s championship game.

Taylor (Ind.) wasted no time getting the bats going as Brennan Frickel opened the scoring with an RBI single before Fletcher Roemmich broke the inning open with a three-run double into the gap in left-center. Nate Simpson later added an RBI single as the Trojans sent eight batters to the plate and jumped ahead 5-0 in the opening frame.

William Carey (Miss.) answered with a run in the second on Gage Hinnant’s RBI single, but the Trojans continued to add on to their total. Luke Sutter connected on a solo home run in the bottom of the second, and Brayden Manning added another solo shot in the fourth to extend the lead to 7-1.

The Crusaders slowly chipped away late in the game, but could not quite erase the deficit. Franklin Hernandez drove in a run with a single in the fifth, Hinnant added an RBI double in the sixth, and Jayden Mark brought home a run with a double in the ninth to trail by three runs, (7-4, to finish out the game.

Taylor’s bullpen handled the rest. Nick Crabtree earned the win in relief, and Nathan Frady closed out the final 2.2 innings to secure the save.

Roemmich chipped in offensively with three RBIs and a double, while Manning went 2-for-2 with a homer, an RBI and two runs scored. Sutter also homered amidst his two-hit outing, as Taylor totaled 10 hits in the victory.

The Crusaders finished with nine hits in the loss, led by Hernandez’s three-hit outing and Hinnant’s two hits and two RBIs. Adam May tossed 6.1 innings of work in relief for WCU, allowing just one run with six strikeouts.