PINEVILLE, La. – The #20 Louisiana Christian University baseball team's hopes of a deep run in the 2026 Red River Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament to solidify a spot in the NAIA Baseball Championship Tournament field came to an end with a 6-0 loss to the Our Lady of the Lake Saints in the decisive third game of the first round series Sunday at Billy Allgood Field.
Our Lady of the Lake (34-16), the fifth seed in the RRAC Tournament field, now advances to the RRAC Tournament Final Round, a four-team double elimination bracket to determine the conference's champion for 2026. The Saints will be joined in Sterlington, La. next weekend by the 1-seed Texas A&M-Victoria, 2-seed LSU Shreveport, and 6-seed Texas A&M-Texarkana.
#20 Louisiana Christian (35-13) will now sit and wait to see if it has done enough to earn an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championship Tournament, having gone 8-3 against teams either receiving votes or in the NAIA's Top 25 Coaches' Poll this season, including a series win over #7 LSUS just last weekend.
LCU's bats struggled to get going throughout the contest.
Harrison Waxley led off the third inning with a walk but got no further than first base.
With the Wildcats now trailing 2-0,
Matthew Cody started the fourth inning with a base hit down the third base line and moved to second on a hit and run play but was left there.
The best threat of the day by the Wildcats came in the bottom of the seventh inning. Now trailing 5-0,
Chris Kelley dropped a one out base hit into left.
Brady Huffman followed him with a single of his own down the right field line which allowed Kelley to move all the way to third base. However, a strikeout and a ground ball to shortstop ended the rally.
After scoring two in the fourth, OLLU added a run in each inning from the fifth through the eighth to pull away.
Caleb Brown, Cody, Kelley, Huffman, and Waxley all got a hit apiece. Waxley also drew a walk in the game.
Drake Aldridge was hit by a pitch.
Jacob Baresill (4-3) got the start and went four-plus innings, allowing six hits and three runs, all earned, with two walks and one strikeout.
Colton Williams went 3.2 innings and surrendered four hits and three runs, two earned, with two strikeouts and a walk.
Owen Simoneaux threw the final 1.1 innings and didn't allow a hit or a run, walked two batters and didn't strike out any.
The #20 Wildcats will find out if they've earned an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championship Tournament on Wed., May 6 at 4 p.m. when the NAIA Baseball Selection Show airs on the NAIA YouTube Channel.
