They're back: Warriors walk off in extra innings to punch ticket to World Series

May 14—Jackson Cloud admits he probably shouldn't have run onto the field as soon as he did. Then again, each one of the 570 fans in attendance might have joined him if they could after senior catcher Cade Westerlund slapped an RBI single down the left-field line to score senior right fielder Bryce Johnson in the bottom of the 10th and send the Lewis-Clark State Warriors back to the Avista NAIA World Series after a long two-year hiatus. Westerlund's walk-off pushed the Warriors in front of the visiting Hope International Royals 3-2 in the final of the NAIA Baseball Opening Round, presented by Avista, on Wednesday at Harris Field in Lewiston.

"I went around the trainer, started walking. I'm like, 'Eh, let's just run. It's Cade, he works hard,'" Cloud said.

"So I ran out there and obviously celebrating with the guys is unreal, we're all brothers. " With two outs and the bases loaded in a 2-2 game in the bottom of the 10th, Westerlund said he was just looking for a good pitch to hit. He found that on the very first pitch, he saw — Hope International starter Franky Lopez's 126th offering of the game.

The 6-foot, 205-pound catcher from Chandler, Ariz. , watched the ball all the way through, saw it kick past the Royal third baseman and into the outfield and leapt up and down in disbelief as Johnson touched home plate with his hands in the air. "Just excited for the kids.