PINEVILLE, La. – The #20 Louisiana Christian University baseball team dropped it regular season finale, 19-8, to the #7 LSU Shreveport Pilots, Saturday afternoon at Billy Allgood Field, but got the help needed to secure a host spot for a first round series in the Red River Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament.
#20 Louisiana Christian (34-10, 19-8 RRAC) got its offense going first, using a two-out rally to get on the board in the bottom of the second inning.
Drake Aldridge sent a base hit back up the middle to lead off the inning only to see the next two batters get out. With two away,
Luke Morgan started the rally with another hit up the middle, and then
Braden McLin came up with the big hit, a wall-banging double to left-center to score both runners for a 2-0 LCU lead after two.
But #7 LSU Shreveport (35-12, 20-7 RRAC) started to get its offense going in the third, taking advantage of a Wildcat error to score a run. LCU got out of a runners on the corners, 1 out jam in the inning still holding onto the lead as the Wildcats were able to throw out a base runner trying to steal home and then get the batter to fly out to retire the side with a 2-1 edge.
After LSUS tied the game in the top of the fourth, another LCU error extended the inning which allowed the Pilots to add two more runs and take their first lead of the weekend. LCU got one of those back in the bottom of the inning as
Harrison Waxley led off the inning with a four-pitch walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, went to third as Morgan banged a base hit off the Pilot pitcher, and came home on McLin's perfectly placed sacrifice bunt down the first base line, making it 4-3 LSUS.
But the Pilots slowly opened it up, scoring one in each the fifth and sixth innings to go up 6-3, and then the score opened in the seventh as LSUS plated five in the frame to make it 11-3.
LCU got two back as
Caleb Brown and
Brady Huffman led off the inning with singles and then
Chris Kelley doubled down the right field line to score Brown. Aldridge kept the rally going with a ground ball to shortstop which allowed Huffman to come home.
But LSUS added four more in the top of the eight while LCU could only respond with a two more RBIs by Aldridge as he doubled to right-center, scoring both Brown and
Zephaniah Singleton.
After another LSUS four-spot in the ninth,
Darron Degeyter launched a hit over the center field wall to lead off the bottom of the ninth for his fifth home run of the season and the game's final run.
Brown, Huffman, Aldridge, Degeyter, and Morgan all had two hits in the contest.
Brown was 2-for-5 and scored twice.
Huffman was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Aldridge was 2-for-5 with a double, three RBI, and a run scored.
Degeyter was 2-for-2 with the home run, which accounted for his RBI and run scored, and drew a walk.
Morgan was 2-for-4 with a run scored and was hit by a pitch.
Waxley and Singleton both drew a walk and scored a run.
Eight different Wildcat pitchers saw action in the game.
Jacob Bareswill (4-2) got the start and threw 3.1 innings, allowing four hits and three runs, just one earned, with one walk and two strikeouts, picking up the decision.
Seth Whitney and
Alan Mason both threw 1.1 innings while
Sterling Sims threw the final inning. The other four all threw less than one inning of work.
With LSU Alexandria defeating Our Lady of the Lake on Saturday, that locked the Wildcats into the four-seed of the 2026 Red River Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament. Under the tournament's new format, that means Louisiana Christian will host the 5-seed, the aforementioned OLLU Saints, in a best two out of three game series in the first round.
But before that, the Wildcats have one more game remaining, a midweek, non-conference contest against John Melvin on Wednesday to wrap up the regular season. First pitch of Wednesday's contest against the Millers (27-12) is set for 6 p.m. at Billy Allgood Field.
