ENID, Okla. - Having not played in 12 days since winning the Plains District Tournament, there was some concern about South Arkansas College having to shake off some rust entering the NJCAA Division II World Series.
The Stars quickly put that notion to rest.
Elijah Nichols drove in five runs and homered twice and former El Dorado standout Brennan Jones also homered to support another stellar performance by Brett Foss in a 10-0 five-inning win over Frederick (Md.) Community College Saturday at David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
The win sets up a battle of the Stars on Sunday, as South Ark (46-16), the No. 7 seed, faces Lansing (Mich.) Community College (47-10), the No. 2 seed, at 1 p.m.
Frederick (37-14), the No. 10 seed, will play an elimination at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
The Stars scored single runs in the first and second innings on RBI singles by Ryan Riggs and Gabe Spedale before scoring five runs in the third to break the game open.
Riggs, who joined Nichols and Jones with two hits in the win, had an RBI double to open the scoring in the third.
Riggs later scored on an RBI single by Jacob Ambriz to push the lead to 4-0.
After Kyle Tolley singled, Nichols connected for a three-run homer to make it 7-0. It was his 14th of the season.
The early run support gave Foss (8-1) a sizable cushion to work with, and the freshman never gave the Cougars an opportunity to climb back in the game, needing only 74 pitches to finish with a two-hit shutout. He walked two and struck out eight while firing his third shutout of the year and fourth complete game.
The Stars ended the game in the fifth via the sportsmanship rule thanks to the long ball.
After Tolley walked, Nichols drilled his second homer of the game, a two-run shot for his 15th of the year to tie Trace Shoup for the team lead.
Jones then ended it moments later with his third homer of the year.
“Foss set the tone early with a quick first inning and Riggs had two big RBIs to get us going,” SouthArk coach Cannon Lester said. “Elijah got off two big swings and Brennan capped it off.”
Dakota Smith (7-3) allowed seven runs with five being earned in three innings of work to take the loss. He walked one and struck out three. Brendan Kleiman and Jake Holler had singles for the Cougars.
Next up for SouthArk is one of the top offensive teams in the country.
Lansing scored eight runs in the eighth to break an 8-all tie to win the Great Lakes District crown 16-8 over Kellogg (Mich.) Community College in a winner-take-all game last weekend. They are in the World Series for the second straight year.
Lansing enters the World Series hitting .379 as a team, which ranks second in the country behind Heartland (Ill.) Community College, who is the No. 1 seed.
Sophomore Hunter Lay fuels the Stars, hitting .459 with 19 home runs and 75 RBIs. He has at least one hit in 50 of Lansing’s 57 games.
Hunter Shaw (8-2, 1.43 ERA) leads the Stars in innings pitched with 56 2/3 and strikeouts with 83. He threw four scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win in the clinching victory of the Great Lakes District tourney.