STERLINGTON, La. – The Louisiana Christian University baseball team took advantage of a strong wind gusting straight out during its Red River Athletic Conference Tournament opening round contest against University of the Southwest, lifting the ball into the air and watched seven sail over the wall, three off the bat of Peyton Lamartiniere, as the Wildcats outlasted the Mustangs 17-13 in the slugfest at the Sterlington Sports Complex.
 
The first home run of the day was not hit by a Wildcat, but rather USW struck first with a two-run shot in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Mustangs extended the lead to 3-0 in the third inning on a one-out RBI double, though LCU would end up stranding a runner in scoring position.
 
But following a quiet first two innings, the LCU bats came alive in a big way in the third inning as the Wildcats put up more than a crooked number in the frame, opting instead for a double-digit number. Ty Morgan led off the inning with a ground ball to third where the throw took the first baseman off the bag, allowing Morgan to reach safely. With one out, Alex Ashby and Keelyn Johnson were both hit by pitches to load the bases, setting the table for LCU's biggest bat in the line-up. Ju'Juan Franklin would not miss, launching the first of LCU's home runs of the day, a no-doubt grand slam to give the Wildcats the lead in an instant. Now looking to extend the lead, Nick Brunet dropped in a base hit before Peyton Lamartiniere drove out his first home run of the day out of the park for a two-run shot to make it 6-3 Wildcats. Jacob Fowler and Haydon Helms each hit singles before Ty Morgan came up again and again rolled a ground ball to third that resulted in a throwing error, an error that was compounded by another error on the play, resulting in both Fowler and Helms scoring. Alex Ashby put a bow on the inning with the third home run of the frame and his first of the game, a two-run blast to give LCU a 10-3 lead.
 
Southwest pulled one of those in the top of the fourth, only for Peyton Lamartiniere to come up in the bottom half and rip his second home run in as many innings, a solo shot, to reestablish the seven-run advantage for LCU after four.
 
The home runs kept on piling up in the fifth inning. With two outs, Nick Brunet was hit by a pitch to bring Peyton Lamartiniere to the plate again, and for the third time in as many at bats, Lamartiniere found a pitch he liked and drove it over the fence and out of the park for a two-run blast. Jacob Fowler came up right after Lamartiniere and followed exactly in his footsteps by cranking a pitch out as well to go back-to-back for a 14-4 Wildcat lead after five complete innings.
 
But a game that seemed comfortably in-hand suddenly got interesting again as the Mustangs responded with six runs in the top of the sixth, including a grand slam of their own to make the score 14-10 LCU.
 
With the Wildcats nursing that four-run lead and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Haydon Helms drew a walk, and he was followed by Ty Morgan, who dropped a base hit inside the left field line and buried it in the corner for a triple, scoring Helms, and extending the lead back out to 15-10.
 
The Mustangs continued to pull closer in the eighth as a bases loaded, two-out double cleared the bags and cut the Wildcat lead, once ten runs, down to just two at 15-13. LCU plated two very key insurance runs in the bottom half to ease the pressure a bit. Alex Ashby gave an immediate pressure relief as he belted his second home run of the game on the first pitch of the inning, rudely welcoming in a new USW pitcher. After Keelyn Johnson walked, Nick Brunet dropped a hit into the left-center gap with one out for a double that allowed Johnson to race all the way home for the game's final run. A single with one out was all the offense the Mustangs could muster in the ninth inning as the tying run would not get to the plate in the inning.
 
Peyton Lamartiniere started the day with two home runs on the season. When the game ended, he had more than doubled that as he went three-for-six with his third, fourth, and fifth home runs of 2022 which allowed him to tabulate five RBI and score three times. Haydon Helms went three-for-four with a walk, a stolen base, and two runs scored. Jacob Fowler also went three-for-six with his second home run of the season as he knocked in one run and scored twice. Ty Morgan went two-for-five with a triple, a RBI, and his courtesy runner Dylan David scored twice in his stead. Nick Brunet was two-for-five with a double, was hit by a pitch, knocked in a run, and scored twice. Alex Ashby went two-for-four as he launched his eighth and ninth home runs of the year, drew a walk, was hit by a pitch, knocked in three runs and scored three times in the contest. Ju'Juan Franklin went one-for-four, but that one was his RRAC-leading 15^th home run of the season and a grand slam which gave the Wildcats the lead for good, drew a walk, was hit by a pitch, drove in four runs and scored once, all off the grand slam. Ten of LCU's 17 hits in the game went for extra bases, including seven home runs, two doubles, and a triple.
 
Trip Flotte (4-2) was the second of six pitchers used by the Wildcats and was in the right spot to pick up the win. He threw 1.2 innings and gave up three hits and two runs, both earned, walked one and struck out two. Cortlynn Ramirez started and threw the first two innings, giving up two hits and two runs, both earned, with one walk and two strikeouts. Brooks Southall came in and threw two innings and gave up seven hits and five runs, just one earned, with no walks and one strikeout. Beau Hebert threw an inning and allowed one hit and one, unearned, run with two walks and no strikeouts. Colten Newsom threw 1.1 innings and allowed four hits and three runs, all earned, with one walk and two strikeouts. Dylan Coburn finished things off by throwing the ninth inning and allowed one hit and no runs with no walks and one strikeout.
 
The Wildcats (31-15) move on to the winner's bracket where they face a bit of an unexpected opponent in Houston-Victoria, who upset RRAC regular season champion and the NAIA's #3-ranked LSU Shreveport, 12-7, in the final first round game. First pitch of Saturday's RRAC Tournament quarterfinal contest against the Jaguars (21-24) is set for 6:00 P.M. at the Sterlington Sports Complex.