TUESDAY MORNING MOUND VISIT: Don't wait until the World Series to watch baseball in Lewiston

May 5—COMMENTARY Lewis-Clark State outfielder Bryce Johnson got one at-bat last year in Lewiston. A year later, he recorded four hits in the biggest game of his career (so far) to help the Warriors beat British Columbia 12-2 on Sunday and win the Cascade Conference Tournament championship at Harris Field. With the NAIA Opening Round, presented by Avista, on deck next Monday through Thursday in Lewiston, Johnson's next game and each game after that, will take the cake for the biggest of his career thus far.

After a gold glove-caliber throw from right field foul territory to third baseman Jackson Jaha to tagout a runner following an errant pickoff attempt on Friday, Johnson introduced himself to a World Series-esque crowd of over 700 in the CCC Tournament opener. His Sunday encore hardly came as a surprise to his head coach, Jeremiah Robbins, even after a 4-for-39 slump (. 102) leading into his 4-for-4, four-RBI, four-run day, which included a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth.

"At this level, man, there's gonna be a lot of failure. And it kind of snowballed on him in the middle ... of our season," Robbins said of Johnson.

"And we had a lot of faith in him. Kept putting him in, and he would grind out. He was always competing.