College Baseball: Vanguard wins World Series opener

LEWISTON, Idaho — Senior pitcher Sean Isaac threw a complete-game four-hitter to lead Vanguard University to a 3-1 baseball win over Lindsey Wilson of Kentucky in the opener of the NAIA World Series at Lewis-Clark State College on Friday.

Junior shortstop Jose Rojas went three for three, while sophomore right fielder Brock Eismann was two for five. Rojas, who is now 11 for 19 in five NAIA postseason games, and Eismann each scored one run.

Senior third baseman Taylor McKnight drove in two runs with a double and now has nine RBIs in the NAIA tournament.

Senior designated hitter Brett Collins opened the scoring with an RBI single in the fifth inning for the Lions (39-20), the No. 10 in the 10-team double-elimination tournament.

Isaac, who improved to 10-5, struck out six and walked one.

Vanguard had nine hits and did not commit an error.

No. 7-seeded Lindsey Wilson is 41-18.

The Lions meet No. 2-seeded Faulkner of Alabama (48-13) on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Cal State Northridge 9,

UC Irvine 4

NORTHRIDGE — The visiting Anteaters committed three errors that led to four unearned runs in the Big West Conference game Friday.

A win would have clinched at least a share of third place for UCI (32-23, 14-9 in conference), after Cal Poly San Luis Obispo fell, 6-3, at UC Davis on Friday.

UCI and Cal Poly are tied for third heading into the final regular-season game on Saturday. Should they end up tied, UCI holds the tie-breaker, having beaten the Mustangs two out of three in their conference meetings.

Junior Mitchell Holland was two for four with two RBIs, while senior Kris Paulino was two for three with one RBI and one run.

Sophomore John Brontsema was two for four for UCI, for which junior starter Matt Esparza tool the loss to fall to 8-2. Esparza allowed five hits and eight runs, four earned, in six innings.

CSUN is 33-23, 8-15.

The series concludes Saturday at 1 p.m.

In the series opener on Thursday, Holland hit a pair of home runs and drove in three runs to back junior Elliot Surrey, who allowed one run in 8 2/3 innings of a 7-3 triumph.

Freshman Cameron Bishop was two for four with two RBIs, while Paularino was three for five and scored twice for UCI.

Surrey allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out eight to improve to 6-6.