PINEVILLE, La. – Starting pitcher Kade Linn settled in after a tough first inning and Drake Aldridge's sixth-inning home run took care of the rest as the #20 Louisiana Christian University baseball team took a 1-0 lead in its 2026 Red River Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament first round, best-of-three game series against Our Lady of the Lake, knocking off the Saints 3-1 Friday afternoon at Billy Allgood Field.
 
Our Lady of the Lake (32-16), the tournament's five seed, jumped on Linn to start the game as the first pitch was taken down the left field line for a double. The runner was sacrificed over to third and came home on a two-out RBI single to right-center. Another base hit put runners on the corners, but #20 Louisiana Christian (35-11), the four seed in the tournament, got a little help as the Saints tried a double steal, but the defense was on it, getting the runner trying to score out at the plate to end the inning with no more damage done.
 
Linn settled in, scattering some hits around but keeping the Saints from adding to their lead. However, the LCU bats were also quiet as the OLLU starter rolled through the Wildcat line-up through the first four innings.
 
LCU finally struck in the fifth. With one out, Harrison Waxley dropped a base hit into center field to get aboard. With two outs now, Jake Messina drew a walk to put Waxley into scoring position. Caleb Brown then came through as he ripped a base hit down the left field line for a RBI double as Waxley came home to tie the score at 1-1, though Messina's pinch runner tried to come home as well and was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
 
After another Saint was thrown out trying to steal to end an OLLU two-out threat in the top of the sixth and the Wildcats got the big hit in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Braden Trull drew a walk on four pitches. He moved to second on a wild pitch before being lifted for pinch runner Blake Chauvin. Now with two away, Aldridge liked the first pitch he saw and smashed a home run over the scoreboard in left field for the two-run blast and the game's final runs.
 
A lead-off double in the top of the seventh immediately got the Wildcats in a jam, but a strikeout and two liners split around a walk got LCU out of the mess with no damage done.
 
The Wildcats again found themselves in some trouble in the top of the ninth as a hit batter and a base hit to left, both with one out, brought the leading run to the plate for the Saints with less than two out. But LCU closer Colton Williams did his job after giving up the hit, getting the next Saints batter to roll over to Waxley at third who stepped on his bag for one and threw to Trull for the game-ending double play and the 1-0 lead in the series.
 
Aldridge's home run was his seventh of the season, and third off OLLU pitching. The homer was his only hit in three at bats in the contest and accounted for both of his RBI as well as his run scored.
 
Brown was 1-for-4 with a double and a RBI.
 
Trull was 1-for-3 with a double and drew a walk. His pinch runner, Chauvin, scored a run in his place.
 
Waxley was 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored.
 
Linn (10-1), the reigning, three-time RRAC Pitcher of the Week, was again masterful as he threw 8.1 innings, his longest outing of the season, to pick up the win. He scattered seven hits and allowed the one run, which was earned, with six strikeouts and two walks. At one point during the middle innings, he sat down nine-straight Saints batters.
 
Williams came in with a runner on first and one out in the top of the ninth. He gave up a hit to the first batter he faced, but the next batter rolled into the game-ending double play to give Williams his sixth save of the season, his third in the last two weeks, and second against OLLU this season. He went 0.2 innings pitched with a hit and no runs, walks, or strikeouts.
 
The Wildcats now look to punch their ticket to the final weekend of the 2026 RRAC Baseball Championship Tournament as they will attempt to sweep the first round series from Our Lady of the Lake on Saturday in game two. First pitch of Saturday's game two against the Saints is set for 12 p.m. at Billy Allgood Field.