With a sweep of their five-team Opening Round bracket capped off by a walk-off home run, Arizona Christian has the privilege of being one of the ten teams in the NAIA with a shot at taking home the NAIA World Series Championship.
After a season that started 14-14, the Firestorm hit the throttle to end the season and have placed themselves in Lewiston, Idaho with an opportunity for a national championship for the first time in school history.
Head Coach, Joe McDonald, has meticulously established this culture over the past six years at ACU with a focus on family and the culture within the program. Similar to many programs at Arizona Christian, this baseball squad is built in part with homegrown Arizona talent, such as Shadow Ridge High School product, Trey Tarver, a junior who is one of the top hitters on the squad with a 343 batting average. Alongside him is five-year ACU and Deer Valley High alum, Eli Elliot, who maintains a team-leading 3.2 ERA alongside 99 season strikeouts.
The greatest successes in his coaching career are also coming at one of the most difficult parts of his life as his wife, Pam. battles Multiple myeloma. After being diagnosed in 2021, Joe, Pam, and their family have battled and will all travel to Idaho this weekend to watch ACU battle in the NAIA World Series for the first time in program history.
ACU opens NAIA World Series play as the 8 seed on Friday against the 9 seed Kansas Wesleyan University at 8:35 a.m. PT.
Find more information about Arizona Christian University here.
Devon Henry
