PINEVILLE, La. – In the Battle of the Wildcats, the Louisiana Christian University baseball team proved to be the alpha cat by scoring three runs in the first inning and never looked back in a 9-2 win over the Wiley Wildcats Friday evening at Billy Allgood Field at Legacy Stadium.
In the top of the first inning, a lead-off walk was moved over twice on ground outs to get to third base before
Brooks Southall got tired of looking at the runner and just picked him off third base to retire the side.
The bottom of the first started quickly for the orange and blue as
Adrian Aguilar led off with a base hit between third and shortstop. Now with one out, Aguilar stole second, a move that would pay off almost immediately as
Keelyn Johnson found the left-center gap to knock in Aguilar for the game's opening run.
Ju'Juan Franklin walked and
Nick Brunet ripped a pitch to first that the Wiley first baseman knocked down but couldn't corral for a base hit to load the bases.
Peyton Lamartiniere did the job as his fly ball to left-center allowed
Keelyn Johnson to tag up and score. LCU's final run came on a bit of good fortune as the Wiley center fielder dropped
Beau Freeman's line drive which was in his glove and Franklin came around to score from second on the error to make it 3-0 LCU after one inning.
Aguilar started the second inning similarly to the first, by reaching base, though this time it was after he watched ball four sail by. He stole second, moved to third on
Alex Ashby's ground ball to short, and came home on
Keelyn Johnson's sacrifice fly to right as the score moved to 4-0 LCU after two innings of play.
LCU added to the lead in the fourth, and again it was Aguilar as the catalyst. For the third time in four innings, he led off the frame by reaching safely. In this one, he led off with a double down the left field line.
Keelyn Johnson's base hit up the middle moved him to third and Aguilar came home on a wild pitch as LCU's lead grew to 5-0.
A big two-out rally in the fifth allowed LCU to really blow the game open. After the first two batters flew out,
Nicolas Ramos hit a grounder deep in the hole at short and beat out the play to get the rally started.
Ty Morgan dumped a base hit down the left field line to move Ramos up to second.
Adrian Aguilar came through again as his base hit to center scored Ramos.
Alex Ashby took out a bit of frustration on a pitch that he ripped through the left side of the infield, scoring Morgan's courtesy runner,
Dru Scully, from second base. LCU then pulled a successful double steal as Ashby's move to second drew a throw, which allowed Aguilar to take off from third and he scored uncontested for an 8-0 LCU lead.
LCU added another run in the eighth as
Eddie Baez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs, forcing home
Keelyn Johnson for a 9-0 lead. Wiley pushed two runs across in the ninth but would not threaten LCU's lead.
Adrian Aguilar and
Keelyn Johnson both went three-for-four at the plate in the series opener. Aguilar hit a double, drew a walk, stole three bases, knocked in a run, and scored four times in the contest. Johnson knocked in two runs and scored twice.
Nick Brunet went two-for-four.
Nicolas Ramos went two-for-five with a run scored.
Beau Freeman went one-for-four with a double.
Ju'Juan Franklin went one-for-three with a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored.
Brooks Southall (7-1) worked through the Wiley batting order quickly, needing just 92 pitches to pick up the complete game win on the mound. In his nine innings of work, he allowed eight hits and two runs, both earned, walked one and struck out four.
The Wildcats (25-14, 18-10 RRAC) and Wiley Wildcats (5-36-1, 4-24 RRAC) complete their three-game set on Saturday with a pair of games. First pitch of Saturday's double-dip between the two pairs of Wildcats is set for 12:00 P.M. at Billy Allgood Field at Legacy Stadium.
