By Ron Smith
May 25, 2023
 
(LEWISTON, Idaho) Westmont Baseball (43-5) will begin play in the Avista NAIA World Series on Friday, May 26, making their second appearance in as many years. The Warriors, who are the number three seed in the 10-team, double-elimination tournament, will take on sixth-seeded Cumberlands of Kentucky (49-6), beginning at 11:35 a.m.
 
After winning the Mid-South Regular Season Championship, Cumberlands captured the Mid-South Conference Tournament by winning four consecutive games, the last by a score of 4-1 over Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
 
Then, the Patriots earned their spot in the 66th World Series by winning three straight games in the Williamsburg Opening Round Tournament, which they hosted. In the final game, Cumberlands rallied from a 5-3 deficit against Columbia (Mo.) with three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth on their way to an 8-6 victory.
 
The Patriots, who are making their first trip to the World Series, are the tournament's number six seed.
 
The Cumberlands' pitching staff brings an ERA of 3.54 into World Series play, led by starters Knicko Billings (2.82 ERA), Hunter Rigsby (3.48 ERA) and Garrett DeClue (4.28 ERA).
 
At the plate, the Patriots have posted some impressive numbers including a season team batting average of .355 with 141 home runs and 563 runs scored. Cumberlands has a team slugging percentage of .663 and an on-base percentage of .459. Charlie Muniz and Max Harper lead the team with batting averages of .429 and .416 respectively. Each has recorded 23 home runs.
 
The Warriors and Patriots have never faced each other and have had no common opponents this year.
 
Westmont began its journey to Lewiston with a flight to Spokane via Oakland on Tuesday. From Spokane, the team drove south to Lewiston, arriving in the early-morning hours of Wednesday.
 
After a good night's rest, the team met Butch Alford of the Lewiston Tribune, who serves as the Warriors honorary coach. After introductions, Alford escorted the team to the Asotin-Anatone High School Panthers' baseball field in Asotin, Wash. for a bit of practice. The field is situated on the banks of the north-flowing Snake River. On the opposite side of the river, is a steep, grassy cliff on which, the team was told, sheep were grazing earlier in the day.
 
Later that day, the Warriors made their way to Lewis-Clark State College's Harris Field - site of the World Series games - to participate in the NAIA-ABCA Youth Clinic. The team was assigned to run the pitching station of the event that features more than 200 elementary-aged kids.
 
As different age groups rotated through the bullpen, Warrior players helped teach the young ballplayers the basics of pitching. The youngsters learned how to grip the ball for different types of pitches, which they practiced by throwing to other Warriors behind the bullpen plates.
 
On Thursday morning, Westmont had its first practice on Harris Field, then loaded into vans to head out to two local schools – Whitman Elementary and Webster Elementary.
 
At Whitman, players sat with kids in the lunchroom and played with them during recess – shooting hoops, playing four square, climbing the playground equipment, throwing a football and just being chased.
 
When the older children came out, the players were bombarded with requests for autographs and obliged by signing not only papers, but shoes, and shirts and even a forehead or two. The kids were delighted with the attention shown to them by the famous ballplayers.
 
When the bell rang for the end of recess, the Warriors broke into smaller groups to visit individual classrooms where they introduced themselves, answered questions from their admiring fans, and signed even more autographs
 
On Thursday evening, the team returned to the Lewis-Clark State campus to enjoy a pre-tournament banquet with the other nine World Series teams. The festive occasion included recognizing the Champions of Character Award recipient from each team. For the Warriors, it was senior captain Robbie Haw who received the honor.
 
After two days of practice and community engagement, the Warriors are ready to begin play. The Westmont-Cumberlands' match-up will be the second game of the tournament. The first three days feature four games each day. If Westmont prevails against Cumberlands on Friday, they will not play again until Monday at 3:05 p.m. against an opponent to be determined. If they lose, the Warriors will play on Saturday at 8:35 a.m.