St. Thomas University’s baseball team was just three innings away from winning the AVISTA-NAIA College World Series, but Lewis-Clark College rallied to take the national championship with a 10-7 victory in their own backyard.
But the No. 9 ranked Bobcats came a long way, traveling 2,814 miles to Lewiston, Idaho, to reach the 59th annual college baseball postseason classic, where they defeated the top two teams.
After dropping its opening game to No. 9 seed Concordia, St. Thomas University staved off elimination four times.
The Bobcats defeated Davenport, 8-3, and Vanguard, 14-10, to set up a showdown with No. 1 ranked Oklahoma Baptist.
St. Thomas defeated the top team, 5-4, behind solid pitching and good base running, and then put away No. 2 Faulkner Alabama, 6-3, in the semifinal game.
St. Thomas was on the brink of finishing its Cinderella season, leading 7-1 in the fourth inning, but the Bobcats blew a 7-4 leading in the eighth inning.
They were six outs away from the national championship but Lewis-Clark spoiled their happy ending.
Bobcats’ head coach Jorge Perez and his baseball team put together an exceptional campaign in 2015.
Ranked 20th in the nation, St. Thomas was the runner-up in the Sun Conference Championship, which earned the Bobcats a berth in the NAIA National Championship opening round.
It marked the seventh appearance all-time for the Bobcats at the national tournament; they last appeared in 2012.