LAKE WALES, Fla. – The Warner University Royals baseball team made the hike to Easley, South Carolina to compete in the NCCAA World Series. The Royals earned their bid following a sweep through the NCCAA South Regional Championship, where they were declared the champions with a 3-0 record.

The Royals showed up to Easley ready to play. NCCAA World Series format began with pool play where each team would compete in 4 games to determine which teams advanced to the single elimination tournament. The Royals entered as the low seeded #7 in the tournament despite their showing at the Regional. They opened up pool play taking on the #2 seeded NCAA D-II Colorado Christian, the Royals fell to the Cougars with a final score of 3-8. The Royals went on a winning streak to finish out pool play taking down (in order) #10 Hiwassee College 9-0, #6 Saint Katherine 7-6 and #3 Campbellsville 7-6 to finish pool play in first with a 3-1 record.

Advancing out of pool play and into the single elimination World Series format was the top two seeds from both pools. Pool "A" sent NCAA D-II Biola University as the #1 with a 4-0 Pool Play record along with #2 Southwestern Christian University with a 2-1 Pool Play record as they did not need to play the 4^th game. Pool "B" sent the #1 Warner University 3-1 along with #2 Campbellsville University 2-2.

The Royals faced off against Southwestern Christian and after an overnight rain delay took the game with a final score of 9-4. With the win, Warner advanced to the NCCAA National Championship game where they would again meet up with Campbellsville University.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RECAP

Leading off for the Royals in the top of the 1^st was Rio Russell. Russell reached on a throwing error allowing him to stay at first. Jesse Haney dug in with a 1-1 count and made the Tigers pay for their error early as he smacked a 2-run shot out to left giving the Royals an early 2-0 lead.

In the top of the 2^nd it was Kevin Troncoso that strengthened his bid as the Royals Tournament MVP by hitting a solo homerun while sitting on a full count giving the Royals a 3-0 lead.

A couple of hits and 3-runs later the Tigers did not let the lead last long as they tied it up 3-3 in the bottom of the 2^nd.
Following a scoreless 3^rd inning, Mick Tinny led things off in the top of the 4^th with a base hit and was replaced with the courtesy runner Rafael Astacio. Astacio advanced to second base on a ground ball out by Derek Deler. Kevin Troncoso connected with a double on his first pitch in the at-bat that scored Rafael Astacio and Troncoso would be thrown out trying to stretch the double into a triple. This broke the 3-3 tie and gave the Royals a 4-3 lead.

In the bottom of the 5th, the Tigers tied the game at 4-4, with bases loaded the Royals issued a crucial hit-by-pitch to push the tying run across.

A scoreless 6^th led to the bottom of the 7^th where the Tigers tallied up 4 hits scoring 3-runs and took a 7-4 lead over the Royals.

With a last chance effort in the top of the 9^th, the Royals added 2-runs off back to back singles by Rio Russell and Jesse Haney but were unable to secure the last run needed as they fell to the Tigers in the National Championship game.

Head coach Jeff Sikes said, "It was a thrill for all of us to play in a National Championship game. Especially after losing our first game of the tournament and then responding by winning four consecutive elimination games to reach the final. Our guys played hard all the way through the final pitch. Losing by a run is tough but I could not be more proud of these guys. I wish the entire Warner Community could have witnessed the way our team carried themselves on and off the field. They were a credit to our University and I believe honoring of our Lord. I would not trade them for any other team we faced all season."

Kevin Troncoso had a massive offensive showing in the World Series as in 6 games he finished 10-23 at the plate, 7 runs scored, 10 RBI's, 3 doubles, 3 homeruns, on base percentage of .458 and a .957 slugging percentage.

Cole Parks also had an outstanding series as he went 12-25 at the plate, 4 runs scored, 4 RBI's, 1 triple, 2 homeruns, 5 stolen bases, on base percentage of .481 with a .800 slugging percentage.

On the mound Jaryd Clary picked up the best pitching performance of the series as he threw 8 innings of 4-hit baseball while striking out 8 and giving up no runs in the 9-0 victory.

Jake Leiffer put together 2 relief appearances throwing 1 inning against NCAA D-II Colorado Christian with no hits and 3 innings against Southwestern Christian in the semifinal game surrendering just 1 hit and striking out 3.

SEASONS END
Warner University ends their season with one of the best postseason showings since 2001 where they made their way into the NAIA World Series. This year, falling in the NCCAA National Championship game, the Royals collected their best record since 2009 finishing with a 34-26 overall.

The Royals quick leaders on the season were…

• Mick Tinny, 57 hits, .393 batting average
• Junior Fermin, 51 RBI's, 0.88 RBI average per game, NAIA D-I  34^th ranking with 31 steal attempts and 34^th ranking in total stolen bases with 26.
• Cole Parks, 7 NAIA D-I top-50 rankings. NAIA D-I 5^th in steal attempts with 46, 5^th in stolen bases with 38, 13^th in steal attempts per game with .780, 16^th in stolen bases per game average with .644, 31^st in total at bats with 224, 42^nd in caught stealing per game at .136, and 46^th in overall triples with 6.
• Jaryd Clary led the pitching staff in ERA with a 3.86 over 74.2 innings with a 7-4 overall record.
• Rio Russell holds 7 NAIA D-I top-25 rankings. He ranks 2^nd in total triples with 8, 7^th in triples per game with .143, 12^th in steal attempts with 40, 16^th in steal attempts per game with .714, 17^th in stolen bases with 31, 21^st in caught stealing per game with 1.61 and 23^rd in stolen bases per game with .554.
• Anthony Torres is ranked 10^th in NAIA D-I with 9 saves.
• Kevin Troncoso ranks 33^rd in NAIA D-I in homeruns per game with an average of .255 tallying 12 on the season.

As a team the 2018 Warner University baseball team holds 20 NAIA D-I top-50 rankings
 

2018 Royals NAIA D-I Rankings

 

Ranks Number 4 in Division I in Total Caught Stealing (43)

Ranks Number 6 in Division I in Total Stolen Bases (142)

Ranks Number 7 in Division I in Steal Attemps per Game (3.083)

Ranks Number 8 in Division I in Caught Stealing per Game (0.717)

Ranks Number 11 in Division I in Stolen Bases per Game (2.367)

Ranks Number 14 in Division I in Total Triples (19)

Ranks Number 17 in Division I in Total Chances (2094)

Ranks Number 19 in Division I in Total Innings Pitched (482.100)

Ranks Number 20 in Division I in Total Putouts (1447)

Ranks Number 21 in Division I in Errors per Game (2.033)

Ranks Number 24 in Division I in Total At Bats (1857)

Ranks Number 26 in Division I in Triples per Game (0.317)

Ranks Number 34 in Division I in Total Hits (555)

Ranks Number 34 in Division I in Total Assists (525)

Ranks Number 38 in Division I in Total Runs Batted In (347)

Ranks Number 39 in Division I in Total Runs Scored (390)

Ranks Number 41 in Division I in Putouts per Game (24.117)

Ranks Number 42 in Division I in Innings Pitched per Game (8.039)

Ranks Number 43 in Division I in Chances per Game (34.900)

Ranks Number 48 in Division I in Total Batters Struck Out (377)

 
Head coach Jeff Sikes had this to say about the Royals 34-26 season with a National Championship appearance, "I've been blessed to have several favorite teams and this team adds to the list. They weren't perfect to be sure but they had great chemistry and it showed. They worked hard and represented Warner increasingly well the longer the Season lasted. They saved their best baseball for the last month of the season. It was a blessing to Coach these young men. They have re-established a foundation for future teams to grow from."