LC State baseball seeks a return to NAIA World Series in 2025; Moscow’s Anderson highlights new crop of Warriors

For the first time in the 21st century, the No. 7 Lewis-Clark State baseball team enters a season without having participated in the Lewiston-hosted Avista NAIA World Series the year prior.

After back-to-back trips to the championship game in 2022 and 2023, the Warriors missed the tournament for the first time since 1998.

“I try not to think about it,” LC State coach Jake Taylor said at his season-preview news conference on Monday. “We’re just trying to be the best version of ourselves this year, of this team that we can.”

The Warriors open the season in Lake Myrtle, Fla., where they will compete in the East/West Challenge, with first pitch set for 11 a.m. Pacific on Thursday against Ave Maria (Fla.).

LC State has hosted the World Series continuously since 2000, with an automatic berth to the tournament until 2022.

The first two years of having to play their way into the tournament resulted in consecutive championship game trips for the Warriors, but 2024 saw them lose two straight in the opening round to end their season.

That doesn’t change the focus for a group featuring plenty of players who participated in one or both of the Warriors’ recent runner-up seasons.

“We’re Lewis-Clark State. We’re here to win a national championship,” senior outfielder Brandon Cabrera said. “We’re gonna do everything we can to make that happen.”

A tough schedule

The seventh-ranked Warriors start the season with six games in Florida, three of them against the preseason top 11 teams, including No. 1 Tennessee Wesleyan at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Taylor said he hopes the tough opening schedule gives his guys a sense of urgency and familiarity with some of the teams they may face in the postseason.

“When you go down there, it’s really either an eye opener or it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re really this good,’” left-handed pitcher Jantzen Lucas said. “It’s really good for our new guys to really experience the high-level pace of play.”

The Warriors return to Lewiston for their home opener versus Western Oregon at 1 p.m. Feb. 14 at Harris Field.

LC State will play 37 conference games with four additional games against CCC opponents not counting in the conference standings.

Old and new faces

The Warriors enter the new season with a balance of returners and new faces. They have to replace the top two spots in their lineup as center fielder Carter Booth and left fielder Nick Seamons both graduated.

However, Cabrera returns for his senior year after belting 13 home runs in 2024, hitting .362 and stealing a team-high 22 bases.

The Warriors’ salient slugger Dominic Signorelli hammered a team-leading 15 home runs in 2024 and slugged .636. Taylor said he returns to hold down the hot corner at third base.

Taylor listed a number of names that figure to see playing time, including Izzy Madariaga, a dynamic left-handed bat who could fit in at second base, and Jack Sheward, who catches and plays outfield.

“If (Sheward) continues to hit, it will be real hard to keep him out of the lineup,” Taylor said.

Taylor said the new season could see six starters in the rotation with newcomer Evan Canfield getting a start this weekend along with Lucas and right-handers Jadon Williamson, Joey Estrada and Robby Butenschoen.

Freshman left-hander Levi Anderson of Moscow High School could make his Warrior debut sooner than later after a state championship-winning season just up Highway 95.

“The guy that just continues to improve,” Taylor said of Anderson. “He’s doing very well.”

The history

Lucas said that one of the team’s goals this year was to become a family. They did that by hanging out outside of practice, going to basketball games and making a genuine effort to be friends.

Taylor, a member of the 1992 NAIA championship-winning roster, said that the new guys were integrated early on in the fall which has helped the players connect with one another.

As a baseball player from Priest River, Idaho, Lucas said that he was keenly aware of LC State’s history and its winning tradition.

It’s an aspect that was key to his choice to come to Lewiston and to stay his entire college career.

“That winning culture is just something you want to be a part of,” Lucas said. “You want to have an impact on the field and be with those guys all the time.”

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.