Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – Zach Fabricius worked into the eighth inning and a big home run from Brady Mooney helped the College of Idaho survive an elimination game with Corban, defeating the Warriors, 5-3, at the NAIA West Grouping Championships.
The Yotes (33-25) will meet Concordia at 1 p.m. (MDT) tomorrow, with the winner meeting British Columbia in the championship round. The C of I-Concordia winner will have to defeat UBC twice to win the title and earn the NAIA West's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.
A two-out first inning single by Jordan Grubbs was followed by a Cole Mansanerez RBI triple to give C of I an early 1-0 lead, but the Warriors (25-27) took the lead in the third on an RBI single from Daniel Orr and an RBI triple from Stockton Taylor.
The Yotes took the lead for good with one swing, as Brady Mooney belted his first homer in a C of I uniform, a two-run fifth inning blast, to make it 3-2. The Coyotes would add a seventh inning RBI single from Chase Miller and an eighth inning RBI triple from Seth Champlin to make it 5-2.
Fabricius worked around five walks and nine hits, striking out six men before handing the ball over to Joel Martin with one out in the eighth. Jon Mercer greeted the reliever with an RBI single, but Martin retired the final five men he faced to pick up his third save.
Sam Grise was the lone C of I player with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-2, as the Yotes improved to 3-0 all-time against the Warriors in postseason play.
Vince Gonzalez was 3-for-3, with Taylor going 2-for-4 in the loss for Corban.
