Royals Battle in World Series Debut, Fall 14–13 to Southeastern

LEWISTON, Idaho — In the first Avista NAIA World Series game in program history, the No. 6 seed Johnson Royals battled to the final swing before falling 14–13 to No. 5 seed Southeastern on Saturday afternoon at Harris Field.

The game featured several momentum swings, with both teams trading big innings throughout the day. Johnson jumped out to an early lead, scoring once in each of the first three innings. Izaak Fernandez opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first, Edwin Olmeda Jr. added a sacrifice fly in the second, and Travis Hobbensiefken doubled home JJ Menesini in the third to give the Royals a 3–0 advantage.

Southeastern responded with two runs in the third and six more in the fourth to move ahead 8–3, but Johnson refused to go away. The Royals chipped away in the fifth before exploding for six runs in the sixth inning. Joseph Brown and Luke Wilson each drove in runs before Menesini added a sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to one. Fernandez then delivered the biggest swing of the inning, launching a three-run home run to left field to put Johnson back in front 10–8.

The Fire answered with five runs in the bottom half of the sixth and added another run in the eighth to take a 14–10 lead into the ninth. Johnson made one final push, as Christian Altamirano blasted a three-run home run down the left-field line to bring the Royals within one, but the comeback came up just short.

Fernandez led the Royals offensively, finishing with two hits and five RBIs. Altamirano added two hits and three RBIs, while Hobbensiefken collected three hits, including two doubles. Johnson finished the game with 13 runs on 13 hits.

Following the game, head coach Dave Serrano emphasized that the result does not define the team's effort or character.

"Well, I just got done telling the team, that was a very difficult loss," Serrano said. "But I don't want them to think we're defined by the score that we came out on the short end. That was an absolute battle. Ebbs and flows to that game. We jump out to a lead. They jump out to a lead. We get the lead back. They get the lead back. And we fight and we're one swing away from tying the baseball game."

Serrano said he was proud of how the Royals represented the university and the program on the national stage.

"We showed our character as a team," Serrano said. "I think they represented our university and this baseball program in the highest degree. We just came out on the short end."

While acknowledging that the Royals could have done some things better, Serrano pointed to the team's fight and energy as a positive moving forward.

"I'm a very competitive person, but I'm proud of these guys. I really am," Serrano said. "I can be proud of them when we come out on the short end because they gave us everything we had. We didn't quit. Our energy level maintained the same throughout the whole day."

The Royals will now regroup before returning to action in an elimination game on Tuesday at 11 a.m. PDT.