PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian baseball team continued the hot hitting that came out of the weekend sweep of Huston-Tillotson, scoring in all but one of the six innings they came to the plate as the Wildcats run-ruled the Champion Christian Tigers 14-2 Monday afternoon at Billy Allgood Field at Legacy Stadium.
Adrian Aguilar's heads up base running proved beneficial to the Wildcats getting on the board in the first inning. After leading off the frame with a walk, he saw the Tiger first baseman struggling with the wind on a pop fly in foul ground, so he tagged up and as a falling catch was made, Aguilar took off for second and slid in safely.
Keelyn Johnson made it pay off immediately as he hit a base hit to left which allowed Aguilar to score without a play at the plate for the lone run scored in the first.
The Wildcats made the Tigers pay in a big way for committing an error with two outs, and again Aguilar was the catalyst. With the bases empty and two away, Aguilar grounded the ball to shortstop, but the throw to first went into the Wildcat dugout and Aguilar trotted to second base.
Alex Ashby brought Aguilar home with a base hit into left field. After stealing second and moving to third on a wild pitch, Ashby came home on a passed ball which also allowed
Keelyn Johnson to reach safely following a strike out.
Ju'Juan Franklin made the Champion Christian mistakes hurt even more as he belted a double off the left field wall to score Johnson and put the Wildcats up 4-0 after 2 innings of play.
Alex Ashby became the catalyst in the fourth inning to help LCU extend the lead. After leading off the inning by taking a base on balls, Ashby stole second, drawing a throw that would skip into center field and allow Ashby to move up to third as well.
Ju'Juan Franklin did the job with one out, hitting a fly ball to left-center field deep enough to allow Ashby to tag up and score to make it 5-0 LCU when the inning ended.
But the game was blown wide open in the fifth inning as the Wildcats plated seven runs in the frame. After the Tigers made their first pitching change of the game,
Nick Brunet greeted the new pitcher very rudely, driving the first pitch he threw into the wind that was blowing in from left field and still got the ball over the left center wall for a solo shot to start the inning. After
Beau Freeman doubled and
Jacob Fowler singled and stole second,
Ty Morgan brought them both in with a base hit to left. The Tigers made another pitching change and
Adrian Aguilar took the Brunet approach, jumping on the first pitch from the new pitcher for a double to again put runners on second and third.
Alex Ashby was then hit by a pitch to load the bases and
Keelyn Johnson cleared the bases with a base hit back up the middle that went under the left fielder's glove, allowing Johnson to go all the way to third and everyone else to score.
Ju'Juan Franklin capped the scoring with a base hit back up the middle which brought Johnson in for a 12-0 Wildcat lead.
With the run-rule now in play, the Wildcats got a pair of insurance runs in the sixth to make sure the game would end early. LCU loaded the bases with no outs and
Eddie Baez drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to right center, scoring
Cade Moreau. With the bases reloaded,
Dylan Romero hit a dribbler down the first base line, giving
JT Brice plenty of time to touch home plate to make it 14-0 Wildcats.
The Tigers avoided the shutout by scoring two runs in the top of the seventh inning, but it would not be enough to keep the game going as the action was halted via the run-rule when the third out was recorded.
Keelyn Johnson kept his batting average on the season rock-steady at .500, going two for four at the plate with a stolen base, three RBI, and two runs scored.
Ju'Juan Franklin, who earlier in the day had been named the RRAC's Player of the Week, went two for three with a double, a sacrifice fly, and three RBI.
Beau Freeman also went two for three with a double and a run scored.
Nick Brunet's one hit in his two at bats went for his first home run on the year, which also accounted for his lone RBI and run scored in the contest.
Adrian Aguilar and
Alex Ashby both scored three times in the contest, even with both getting a hit each in the contest, while Ashby also drove in a run. A day after Wildcat batters drew 12 bases on balls in the series finale against Huston-Tillotson, the LCU line-up saw ball four fly by nine more times in this contest.
In his first appearance on the season,
Dawson Ardoin (1-0) got the start and led a wholestaff charge of pitchers for the Wildcats by throwing three innings and gave up two hits, no runs, one walk, and one strikeout.
Jake Darrah threw two innings and allowed two hits and no runs with one strikeout.
Austin Thiels threw an inning and allowed one hit, no runs, and two strikeouts.
Dru Scully threw 0.1 innings and gave up one hit and two runs, both earned, and walked three.
Dylan Coburn closed the final 0.2 innings, getting a fly out and strike out from the only two batters he faced in the contest.
The Wildcats (19-6, 12-3 RRAC) face a big home test this weekend, hosting the preseason favorites and top-five nationally ranked LSU Shreveport in a three-game series. The opening game of the series with the #4 Pilots (26-2, 14-1 RRAC) is set for Friday night at 6:00 P.M. at Billy Allgood Field at Legacy Stadium.
