LEWISTON, Idaho - A 2013 season to remember for the Embry-Riddle baseball team ended abruptly on Wednesday evening at Harris Field as the Eagles fell 13-7 to host team Lewis-Clark State in the Avista-NAIA World Series semifinals. Despite one-run leads in the third and fourth innings, the Blue and Gold couldn't close the door on the potent Warrior offense as LCSC collected 16 hits and scored 13 runs, both season highs allowed by the Eagle pitching staff. Embry-Riddle ends its 25th season of baseball with a 50-15 overall record, the fifth 50-win season in program history, as well as a semifinal finish at the World Series, also the fifth time the Eagles have done so. LCSC moves on to the NAIA National Championship with the victory.

Meeting for the 13th time overall and seventh time in the World Series, the Eagles and Warriors were looking to break the 6-6 and 3-3 deadlock in the all-time series.

Chad Modomo got the nod for the Eagles on the mound, working around a one-out single to retire the Warriors in the first inning.

Anthony Armanino, working on four days rest after throwing 145 pitches in LCSC's series opener, got a double play to erase a Tyler Robbins single in the bottom of the first and send the game to the second.

Modomo struck out the side in the visitor-half of the second, but Armanino was just as effective against the Blue and Gold, getting a pair of groundouts and a strikeout to close the second inning.

Lewis-Clark took a lead in the third on a check-swing bloop single off the bat of Brady Steiger after a pair of Warrior batters reached base before him. With two outs, Steiger tried to check his swing on a 0-1 pitch, but his bat made enough contact with Modomo's pitch, dropping just over the head of Jeff Lemon at third, driving in Kyle Knigge from second. Modomo struggled finding the strike zone against Kyle Blackwell, walking the Warrior catcher to load the bases.

The senior from Winter Park, Fla. was able to escape further damage by inducing a ground ball from Eric Peterson that Robbins fielded and threw to first to end the top of the third.
Embry-Riddle got its first long ball of the tournament when Kyle Chastain took Armanino deep in the last of the third, scoring himself and Connor Williams, Adam Cellini's courtesy runner, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

The one-run advantage was short-lived for the Blue and Gold as Cody Lavalli answered with a solo home run in the next half-inning, knotting the game at 2-2.

The Florida club expected a big inning when the Eagles loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, but a ground ball double play and strikeout allowed just one run to score for the Blue and Gold as the Eagles took a 3-2 lead.

Once again, a run was answered with a run when the Warriors executed a perfect hit-and-run to put runners on the corners with no outs. Steiger drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly to deep center. A stolen base and throwing error allowed the go-ahead run to get to third, but Modomo was able to get a strikeout of Kyle Blackwell for the second out of the inning. A ground ball down the first base line was misplayed by Jordan Johnson, pushing across the fourth run of the game for LCSC. After a base hit and a walk and with the bases loaded, Modomo was relieved by Jon Rapose. Rapose walked the first batter he faced, forcing in a run and extending the Warrior lead to 5-3. Brian Corliss, pinch hitting for Jacob Cano, hit a single to left center, scoring two, and when he tried to take second on the throw to the infield, the Eagles couldn't get an out in a rundown play. Dylan Demarest was called upon to get the Eagles out of the inning, and he was able to do so, getting a ground ball to end the big inning.

The Eagles took advantage of Armanino having to sit for 30 minutes as Liam Goodall drew a leadoff walk and Jordan Romero drove him home with an RBI double to left field. Robbins moved his middle infield partner to third with a groundout and Jeff Lemon was able to drive in another Eagle run with a single to left, cutting the Embry-Riddle deficit to 7-5.

For the seventh consecutive half-inning a run was scored as Lewis-Clark State added to its cushion after a leadoff walk and infield single put two aboard and a sac bunt moved the runners over. A sacrifice fly scored one run for the Warriors before a single from Ryan Sells extended the lead to 9-5 for the hosts.

LCSC chipped on two more insurance runs in the seventh to go up 11-5, but Benjamin-Antwan Brown delivered the first shutout inning for the Eagles in the eighth before Embry-Riddle scored for the first time in three frames in the home-half of the eighth. Lindheim and Johnson collected back-to-back base hits before Mike Gragilla singled up the middle, scoring Lindheim and chasing Sal Arena from the game. Garrett Wilson came in and got two quick fly balls for the first two outs in the inning, but a rain delay halted the contest for 35 minutes. Romero saw just two pitches from Wilson after play resumed, before grounding a ball to short for the final out of the inning.

The Warriors accounted for their final with two runs in the ninth and the Eagles were able to score one in their half of the ninth, but ran out of innings as LCSC finished the Blue and Gold off, 13-7.

The Eagles won their 14th regular regular season Sun Conference title, their fifth Sun Conference Tournament crown, winning the program's fifth Opening Round championship and made Embry-Riddle's 12th appearance at the NAIA World Series.

Embry-Riddle set several team records over the course of the season, including sacrifice hits in a season (69), saves in a season (21), innings pitched (562.2), putouts (1688) and assists (781).

Wednesday's loss marked the final game for 11 Embry-Riddle seniors: Tyler Robbins, Benjamin-Antwan Brown, Clint Whitman, Chad Modomo, Kevin Maloney, Jeff Lemon, Adam Cellini, Mike Gragilla, David Belardes, Andrew Lytle and Brett Tressler.

Robbins finished his four-year Eagle career second in career walks (115), second in career hit by pitch (36), second in career games played (210), ninth in career at-bats (532) and fifth in career runs (147)

Maloney, who pitched for three seasons for the Eagles, went 31-2 in his Blue and Gold career for a .940 winning percentage, the best in NAIA history (minimum 20 decisions). His 31 wins ranks third all-time in ERAU program history, while his 2.62 career ERA is eighth-best. His 264.2 innings of work is fourth-most all-time and 174 strikeouts is 10th.

Lemon ends his Eagle career with 177 hits, good for eighth in Eagle history. His 88 base knocks this season were the seventh most in Blue and Gold history.

Cellini's 980 career putouts rank as the most in Embry-Riddle history.