Lewiston, Idaho - The Central Methodist baseball program began NAIA World Series play with an 11-5 win over No. 7 seeded IU Southeast Saturday night at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho.

The Eagles earned their first World Series win in program history with the victory, and will continue their run in the championship bracket.

It was a scoreless first three innings for both sides, before the Grenadiers jumped out in front with two runs in the fourth. IU Southeast capitlized on two Eagles' errors to bring two runners in.

Trailing 2-0 entering the bottom of the fourth, Central had perhaps its best offensive performance of the year, scoring eight runs on eight hits including three straight home runs from Kenny Otero, Logan Haring and Sergio Macias. It marks the first time since 2012 and only the third time in World Series history that a team has recorded back-to-back-to-back home runs.

The Grenadiers responded with a run in the sixth, but CMU answered right back with three of their own in the seventh. Macias collected his second home run of the evening and his 20th of the season in the inning.

IU Southeast gained traction in the final inning, scoring two runs before Tyler Vicars recorded the final two outs to secure the win.

Both Macias and Max McCay led the offense with four hits apiece, including two home runs from Macias. McCay drove in three runners while Macias and Kenny Otero each collected two.

Mason Schwellenbach picked up the only extra base hit of the night for the Eagles with a double in the fourth. Junior ace Nick Merkel got the start on the bump, tossing six complete innings and giving up only one earned run with three strikeouts for the win. Dylan Brister came in relief and tossed 2.1 innings, matching Merkel with three K's.

The Eagles will face No. 6 seeded Faulkner in the nightcap Monday, May 31 at 6:30 p.m. (PT).

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