PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University baseball team began Cajun Collision weekend with a tune-up doubleheader, and appeared to be hitting on all cylinders as the Wildcats took both games from the Columbia International Rams, 7-2 and 5-1, Thursday afternoon at Billy Allgood Field.
 
Game 1 – Louisiana Christian 7, Columbia International 2
 
Louisiana Christian (7-1) took advantage of a very costly mistake to score the game's first runs. With two outs, Braden Trull shot a base hit back up the middle to get on, and then Harrison Waxley hit a ground ball to third. The throw to first went wild, allowing Trull to come all the way around from first to put the Wildcats ahead while Waxley would end up at third at the play's conclusion. Waxley would come home a few pitches later on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead after the first inning.
 
LCU's pitching staff took over from there. CIU (0-9) got a two-out base hit in the top of the first and would not get another base runner aboard until the sixth inning.
 
Braden McLin extended the Wildcat lead in the third inning as he led off the frame with a solo shot to left. Sterling Sims followed that with a triple and eventually came home on Chris Kelley's one out RBI single to left for a 4-0 lead after three complete.
 
In the fourth, a two-out rally helped extend the lead further. With two away, McLin, Sims, and Trull all followed each other with base hits with Trull's shot through the left side of the infield allowing McLin to come in from second for a 5-0 lead.
 
In the fifth, Darron Degeyter extended the lead further with a two-out, pinch-hit solo home run to left for a 6-0 lead.
 
After 15 straight Rams had been retired by Wildcat pitching, things gave way in the sixth as three-straight CIU batters reached safely, including a two-run home run which accounted for all the visitors' scoring in the contest.
 
Trull got one of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth as his RBI double to the left-center gap scored McLin from second for the game's final run.
 
McLin and Trull both went three-for-four at the plate in game one. McLin hit his first home run of the season which also accounted for his lone RBI in the contest while he came around to score three times in the contest. One of Trull's hits was a double while he scored once and knocked in a pair of runs.
 
Sims went two-for-four with a triple and a run scored.
 
Kelley knocked in a run with his lone base hit of the contest.
 
Degeyter's first hit as a Wildcat was also his first homer in the orange and blue and would not be his last on this day.
 
Brandon Carter (2-0) led the pitcher parade, throwing the first two innings and allowing just one hit and no runs with two strikeouts and no walks.
 
Kade Linn threw two innings of scoreless relief, striking out one and not allowing and runs or walks.
 
Colton Williams also threw two innings, giving up three hits and two runs, both earned, with three strikeouts and no walks.
 
Owen Simoneaux closed out the contest, throwing the final innings without allowing a hit or run while striking out two.
 
Game 2 – Louisiana Christian 5, Columbia International 1
 
LCU was able to wiggle out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the first, and then the big bats gave the Wildcats the lead for good in the bottom half.
 
With two outs, Trull and Degeyter went back-to-back with solo shots to left to put Louisiana Christian up 2-0 after one complete.
 
The Wildcats extended the lead in the third inning as Trull started the frame with a base hit, moved up to second on a balk by the Ram pitcher, and came home on Brady Huffman's RBI single back up the middle. After stealing second, Huffman would come home on Matthew Cody's RBI single to right, making it 4-0 Wildcats through three.
 
LCU added one more in the fourth as McLin found the right-center gap for a double, stole third, and then came home on a RBI single back up the middle by Sims.
 
The Rams would get one back in the sixth, but the CIU rally was snuffed out by a double play and strikeout to limit the damage after loading the bases with no outs.
 
McLin and Trull both went two-for-three at the plate in the nightcap with both of McLin's hits being doubles. He also drew a walk, stole a base, and scored once. Trull's home run was his third of the season and accounted for his lone RBI and one of the two runs he scored in the contest. He also drew a walk.
 
Degeyter's lone hit of game two was his second home run of the day and of the season which accounted for his lone RBI and run scored.
 
Huffman went one-for-two with a RBI and a run scored.
 
Ben Bookman (1-0) was the first of eight LCU pitchers used in the second game. He went an inning and gave up two hits but no runs with no walks or strikeouts and got his first win on the mound as a Wildcat.
 
Alan Mason, Thomas Collins, Aedan Thibodeaux, and Sam Veillon all threw an inning of scoreless relief.
 
Caleb Brown came on with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth and got the final six outs to record his first save of the season, allowing just one hit and no runs with one strikeout and no walks to close out the contest.
 
The Wildcats now head to Sterlington, La. for the Cajun Collision, which starts on Friday. LCU will play two games on Friday, starting at 11 a.m. against the Dakota State Trojans (0-0). Day one of the Cajun Collision for the Wildcats wraps up with a 2:30 p.m. game against the Hastings Broncos (0-0). All games of the Cajun Collision will be played at the Sterlington Sports Complex.