UPLAND, Ind. – The IU Southeast baseball team returns to the Avista NAIA World Series for the second time in four years as the Grenadiers swept the NAIA Opening Round Upland Bracket with a 14-10 win over No. 7 Missouri Baptist on Thursday.

The Grenadiers (36-18) opened the scoring in the top of the first when Luke Powell and Colin Long stole second and third and scored on a throwing error.

The Spartans cut the lead in half with a run in the but IU Southeast pulled away with a run in the third and four runs in the fourth inning.
 
In the third, Luke Powell walked and later scored on a RBI single by Max Flock.
 
In the fourth, a RBI single by Long drove in Slater Schield, who reached on a single and stole second. Mason White followed with a double to drive in Long.
 
Luke Powell and Kody Putnam followed with RBI singles to extend the lead to 7-2.
 
The Spartans scored a run in the fifth and then six runs in the sixth to take a 8-7 lead. The rally was capped off with a grand slam by Jakob Keuneski.
 
The Grenadiers answered back by scoring seven runs over the final three innings of the contest.
 
In the seventh, White put IU Southeast back in front with a three-run home run to right-center, his 17^th of the season.
 
Luke Powell joined White by hitting a three-run home run, his fifth of the year, to center to extend the lead to 13-8 in the eighth inning.  
 
Missouri Baptist cut the lead to three with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning, but IU Southeast added on a run in the top of the ninth when Schield got down a sacrifice bunt to score Logan Murphy.
 
After two walks in the bottom of the ninth, Garrett Hill came on in relief and retired the next three batters to win it for IU Southeast and earn his seventh save.
 
The Grenadiers return to the NAIA World Series for the second time in school history and first since 2021 when they went 2-2.
 
Mason White finished 3-for-6 with three runs scored and four RBI. Luke Powell had four hits, scored four times and drove in four runs and Colin Long had two hits, scored four times and knocked in a run.
 
Conner Fries (4-1) worked one and two-thirds innings for the win. He allowed two hits and two unearned ones while walking one and striking out one.

The World Series bracket and game times will be released later this week.