LEWISTON, Idaho – In a wild affair, ninth-seeded St. Thomas (46-17) defeated no. 10 seed Vanguard (39-22) 14-10 on Monday at the Avista-NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.  With the win, the Bobcats improved to 2-1 at the 10-team, double-elimination NAIA World Series and will now play no. 1 seed Oklahoma Baptist on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET.  Vanguard is eliminated from World Series play.
 
The Bobcats recorded four home runs with left fielder Jerry Downs hitting two home runs to go along with home runs by shortstop Cesar Ramirez and designated hitter Paul Chacin.   Ramirez hit a two-run home run that scored Nico Hernadez to open the scoring for the Bobcats.  Downs followed Ramirez to hit a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the first to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead Chacin's homer cleared the left field fence in the bottom of third  Downs later hit his second solo home run of the game in the bottom of the sixth.
 
After taking the lead 3-0 in the bottom of the first, Vanguard scored three runs in the top of the third to tie the game.  The Bobcats responded with two runs in the bottom of the third on the Chacin home run to take a 5-3 lead.    Vanguard would cut the lead to 5-4 with a run in the top of the fifth, but STU answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning capped off by an RBI single by Ramirez.
 
Trailing 9-4, Vanguard scored three runs in the sixth to cut the lead to 9-7, then tied the game up 10-10 in the top of the eighth on a two-run home run by Brock Eissman.
 
STU rallied to score four runs in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run single by catcher Steven Fischer, a bases-loaded walk by second baseman Michael Centeno and a sacrifice fly by right fielder Adam Duarte.
 
Leading 14-10, closer Chris Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth inning to polish of the win.  Rodriguez (3-0), who earned the win had entered the game with two outs and runner on second in the eighth inning, but halted the Vanguard rally with a ground out to Centeno.
 
The Bobcats used a total of six pitchers with Ben Ancheff, Brandon Valentin, Alex Viera, Tyeler Checkley also seeing action in relief of starter Kharlin Sued who went 2.2 innings allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out two and walking one.
 
St. Thomas now awaits the loser of Monday night's late game between Concordia (Calif.) and Lewis-Clark State.  Tuesday's game is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.  Live video broadcast and stats are available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/naia/.  A radio broadcast with live streaming is also available at http://www.koze-sports.com/.