PINEVILLE, La. – The #14 Louisiana Christian University baseball team finished off a dominant weekend with a pair of 11-1 wins over the Xavier Gold Rush in Saturday's doubleheader at Billy Allgood Field.
 
Game 1 - #14 Louisiana Christian 11, Xavier (La.) 1
 
After working around a one-out single by Xavier (4-16, 2-10 RRAC) in the top of the first inning, #14 Louisiana Christian (24-5, 9-3 RRAC) took immediate control of the game in the bottom of the inning, putting up six runs to open an insurmountable lead.
 
With runners on the corners and one out, Drake Aldridge drove a fly ball into right deep enough to allow Matthew Cody to tag up and score the game's first run, kicking off the massive two-out rally.
 
Braden Trull came home on a pitch that got past the Gold Rush catcher. Caleb Brown then punched a base hit through the left side of the Xavier infield, scoring Gavin Vordick from third.
 
Sterling Sims came up with the big hit in the inning, a double to the right-center gap which plated both Brown and Harrison Waxley. The final run of the inning came on a double steal as Luke Morgan took off for second, drawing a throw which allowed Sims to take home for a 6-0 lead when the inning finally ended.
 
LCU added three more in the second. Vordick came up with runners on the corners and dropped a base hit into left-center, scoring Trull from third.
 
With two outs now, Sims lifted a base hit to left, scoring Drake Aldridge. It then appeared the Gold Rush got Vordick in a pickle between third and home as he made the turn, but Vordick was able to break through the XULA rundown and win the race to home for a 9-0 lead after two innings of play.
 
Xavier picked up its lone run of the game on a wild pitch with two outs in the top of the third inning, making it 9-1 Wildcats. It would remain that way to the sixth inning.
 
LCU added its final two runs of game one in its final at-bat of the contest. Brady Huffman led off the inning with a double. He was followed by Darron Degeyter, who smashed a home run over the scoreboard in left field, scoring the game's final two runs.
 
Cody, Vordick, and Sims all had two hits in the contest, accounting for six of LCU's 14 hits in the day's opener.
 
Sims was 2-for-3 with a double, stole a base, knocked in three runs, and scored once.
 
Vordick was 2-for-3 as well, stole a base, scored twice and knocked in one.
 
Cody also went 2-for-3 with a walk, stole a base, and scored a run.
 
Degeyter's home run was his third of the season in his lone plate appearance of the contest.
 
Kade Linn (5-1) was dominant as he picked up the complete game win, allowing just three hits and one run, which was earned, with no walks and 12 strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched, the second time this season he's punched out 12 opposing batters.
 
Game 2 – #14 Louisiana Christian 11, Xavier (La.) 1 (8 innings)
 
The scoring was a little more spread out in the nightcap, though the result was the same as the earlier contest. It also started in the first inning as the Wildcats again cruised to a run-rule win for the second time on the weekend.
 
With runners on first and second with one out, Chris Kelley got the scoring started as he dropped the ball just inside the right field foul line and raced to second for a double as Huffman came around to score.
 
Trull, who was on third after the double, came home as a pitch got through the Gold Rush catcher and went to the back stop for the 2-0 lead after one.
 
LCU doubled its lead in the fourth inning. With runners on the corners and no outs, the XULA pitcher tried to pick off Brown at first, but the ball got through the first baseman's glove and rolled away, allowing both runners to move up, including Morgan scoring from third.
 
After Brown moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Sims, he would come home on a wild pitch, making it 4-0 Wildcats after four complete.
 
LCU blew the game open the fifth with a three-spot in the frame. With the bases loaded and one away, Degeyter shot a base hit through the left side of the infield, allowing Huffman to race home.
 
Another wild pitch by the Gold Rush allowed Kelley to score from third. Vordick then rolled a ground ball to the XULA shortstop which was good enough to let Waxley score from third for a 7-0 Wildcat lead after five.
 
Xavier got its one run of the game in the sixth as a fly ball to deep right-center was good enough to allow the Gold Rush base runner to tag up from second and race all the way home for a 7-1 score.
 
LCU got that run back and one more in the bottom of the inning. With runners on second and third with no outs, Huffman lifted a fly ball to right which allowed both Zephaniah Singleton and Cody to tag up and advance with Singleton scoring on the play. Cody would touch home on Kelley's ground ball to short two batters later, making the score 9-1 LCU.
 
The Wildcats finished the game off in the eighth, getting the two runs needed to enact the run-rule for the second time on the weekend. Huffman started the frame with a base hit to right field. Trull hit a ground ball to third, which was thrown away, allowing Huffman to take second base safely. Kelley was then hit by a pitch to load up the bases.
 
Waxley dropped a base hit into left-center, scoring Huffman and putting the game-ending run just 90 feet away. Morgan took care of that as he lifted the ball to left, over the heads of the defense which was playing in, allowed Trull to stroll in from third, scoring the walk-off run as the game concluded.
 
Waxley and Morgan both had two hits in the nightcap. Waxley went 2-for-4 with a walk, a RBI, and a run scored. Morgan went 2-for-3 with a walk, a RBI, and a run scored as well.
 
Huffman was 1-for-3 with a walks, a RBI, and scored three times.
 
Trull was also 1-for-3 with a walk, was hit by a pitch, and scored twice.
 
Cody went 1-for-3 at the top of the line-up with a double and a run scored.
 
Kelley was also 1-for-3 with a double, drew a walk, knocked in a run, and scored once.
 
Owen Simoneaux (3-0) was just as dominant as the other starting pitchers on the weekend for the Wildcats, throwing 6.0 innings from the mound and allowed just two hits and one run, which was earned, with seven strikeouts and two walks.
 
Aedan Thibodeaux and Jacob Bareswill each threw an inning with Thibodeaux allowing one hit and no runs with one strikeout and no walks while Bareswill didn't give up any hits or runs with one strikeout and no walks as well.
 
The #14 Wildcats now head on the road for seven-straight games, starting in Texarkana, Texas next weekend for a three-game Red River Athletic Conference set against Texas A&M-Texarkana. The series starts with a doubleheader on Friday with first pitch of game one against the Eagles (12-18, 3-9 RRAC) set for 1 p.m. at George Dobson Field.