PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University baseball team ushered in 2022 season in a big way, getting a grand slam from Jacob Fowler and 11 solid combined innings of starting pitching from Brooks Southall and Cortlynn Ramirez to shut down Iowa Wesleyan for a 10-2 & 11-1 doubleheader sweep of the Tigers Saturday afternoon at Billy Allgood Field at Legacy Stadium
 
Game 1 – Iowa Wesleyan 2, Louisiana Christian 10
 
After getting the Tigers up and down to start the game, the Wildcats struck quickly as Alex Ashby walked with one out. Keelyn Johnson's base hit moved Ashby to second. A wild pitch got far enough away from the catcher that Ashby decided to try and take third base. That decision paid off as the throw to try to get Ashby was wild, allowing him to score and give LCU a 1-0 lead.
 
LCU got IWU in order in the second again, setting up what turned out to be a big inning for the Wildcats. Nicolas Ramos led off the frame with an infield single. After Beau Freeman was given new life when a pop up in foul ground was dropped, he drew ball four to reach successfully. Ty Morgan saw ball four go by as well, setting up Jacob Fowler, and Fowler delivered in a big way as he sent the first pitch he saw over the wall in left for the grand slam to bust the score open.
 
But the Wildcats made sure there would be no comeback as LCU doubled its lead in the third inning. After Nick Brunet and Nicolas Ramos singled back-to-back and Beau Freeman was hit by a pitch to load the bases to open the inning, Ty Morgan added two more scratches to the LCU score line with a two-RBI double, scoring Ramos & Brunet. Jacob Fowler's ground ball to second allowed Freeman to come home from third uncontested. Adrian Aguilar hit a ball down the third base line that stayed fair just long enough for a RBI base hit that allowed catcher courtesy runner Dru Scully to score. Ju'Juan Franklin capped the scoring with a fly ball to right deep enough to get Aguilar home for a 10-0 Wildcat lead after three.
 
That would be more than enough offense for the Wildcats as LCU pitching and defense held the Tigers down until IWU mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh that was capped with a two-RBI double to prevent the shutout, but the win was secured moments later.
 
Jacob Fowler only made two appearances in the game, but did significant damage with both, driving in five total runs while scoring once as part of the grand slam. Nicolas Ramos was two-for-three and came around to score twice. Ty Morgan's one base hit was a double that accounted for both of his RBI in the game. He also drew a walk in the contest. Keelyn Johnson went two-for-two with a double and a walk.
 
Brooks Southall (1-0) got the Opening Game start, throwing six complete innings and gave up no runs and just three hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Rett Bowman threw the seventh, and final, inning and gave up one hit and two runs, both earned, walked three and struck out two.
 
Game 2 – Iowa Wesleyan 1, Louisiana Christian 7
 
Just like in game one, a three-up, three-down first inning for the Tigers only preluded an incoming run for the Wildcats. This time, however, it would take just one swing of the bat from the player who had more home runs than any other Wildcat a season ago, Alex Ashby. Ashby came up with one out and took a pitch to the opposite field, carrying over the right-center wall for a home run and a 1-0 LCU lead.
 
But that lead wouldn't last long as IWU led off the top of the second inning with their own solo shot to even things up. While that tie would last a full inning, a Tiger miscue ended up costing IWU. With Keelyn Johnson already standing on third base, Peyton Lamartiniere hit a sharp grounder to third that was bobbled and Lamartiniere beat out the play to keep the inning alive. Nicolas Ramos made that error hurt, punching a hit through the left side of the infield, allowing Johnson to score and give LCU the lead back.
 
The bottom of the fourth inning saw some key insurance runs come across for the Wildcats as Nick Brunet doubled in both Keelyn Johnson and Alex Ashby to push the lead up to 4-1. Peyton Lamartiniere immediately traded places with Brunet with a RBI double of his own to make it 5-1 Wildcats after four innings.
 
LCU put the game out of reach in the fifth as Alex Ashby drew a walk with the bases loaded to force home Beau Freeman. Dru Scully then came home from third on a wild pitch to close out the scoring.
 
Keelyn Johnson went two-for-three in game two with a pair of doubles and a walk and scored twice. Alex Ashby went one-for-two with his first home run of the season and a pair of walks. He drove in two runs, scored twice himself, and stole a base. Nick Brunet went one-for-two with a double, was hit by a pitch, knocked in two runs and scored once. Peyton Lamartiniere's one hit in the game was a double and he collected a RBI as well.
 
Cortlynn Ramirez (1-0) threw five innings in his first start as a Wildcat, allowing five hits and one run, which was earned, walked one and struck out four to collect his first pitching victory in the orange and blue. Colten Newsom and Blake Windham each threw one three up, three down inning to close out the game with Windham collecting two strikeouts to close things out.
 
The Wildcats (2-0) and Tigers (0-2) wrap up the season opening series on Sunday with two more games that were pushed back from Friday to give the field time to dry from the midweek rain in Pineville. First pitch of Sunday's doubleheader is set for 12:00 P.M. at Billy Allgood Field at Legacy Stadium.