Micah Bivens hit a leadoff, walkoff home run in the bottom ofthe eighth inning Monday night, lifting the West Lincoln Bears to athrilling 6-5 victory over the Nanih Waiya Warriors in the Class 1Astate baseball playoffs. The victory gave West Lincoln a sweep ofthe series.

=West Lincoln (13-6) faces the Stringer Red Devils in the secondround. The Bears play at Stringer Thursday, at 6 p.m. and returnhome Friday for the second game in the best-of-three series. Italso starts at 6.

West Lincoln had won the first game of the series 5-4 Friday atNanih Waiya. The second game, set for Saturday, was postponed dueto rain.

Bivens, a 6-foot-5 senior, sent the first pitch from NW reliefpitcher Justin Bates over the left field fence, igniting a happycelebration. Bivens called the homer a “yack.”

“With the game on the line, I had to go deep,” said Bivens, anoutfielder/first baseman. “Brett Rushing pitched a greatballgame.”

Rushing replaced starter James Magee in the second inning andgot the last out. He had started the game at catcher. Rushingfanned 7 batters, hit 1 and walked 1.

“This was a true playoff game in all aspects,” said WL coachSteve Barrington. “Brett Rushing came in relief and did anoutstanding job on the mound.

“Our players didn’t quit when we got behind,” said Barrington,recalling his team’s 5-0, second-inning deficit. “It (competition)only gets tougher from here on in.”

The Bears exploded for 4 runs in the sixth. Leftfielder ZachBowman drove in the tying run in the bottom of the seventh. Bowmanfinished with 2 singles and a double.

Rushing tripled and singled for the Bears.

“We played hard and battled but we fell short at the end,” saidNW coach Tyler Rogers.

The Warriors (12-11), seeded No. 3 out of their division, hadtaken a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and led 5-0 in the secondbefore Magee (4 K, 2 BB0 was replaced by Rushing.

Bates (1 K, 1 BB) replaced starter Fred Hampton (3 K, 3 BB) inthe seventh. Hampton hit 3 batters.

W. Lincoln 5, N. Waiya 4

Tyler Case (6 K, 0 BB) allowed 1 run on 1 hit and picked up thewin in relief of Matt Magee (2 K, 1 BB) who went 4.1 innings.Bivens and Magee both homered