It is never fun to lose, especially for a program as prominent as LSU-Shreveport baseball. Yet, things could have been much worse.
The Pilots avoided the sweep on the road against the Louisiana Christian Wildcats to end Red River play on April 18. Of course, another road sweep would have been very rough, but the implications that came with getting swept would have been salt to the wound. The Red River conference tournament kicks off on Friday, April 24, and the format has changed for this season.
In the past, all 8 qualifiers took the trip to Monroe for a double elimination tournament spanning one weekend. For this season, there are 4 best-of-3 series taking place at the campus sites of each of the top 4 teams in the RRAC standings. The 4 winners meet the weekend of May 1 in Monroe to finish off the tournament. Going into the weekend, the Pilots were not guaranteed to be spending this weekend in Shreveport. All they needed was a win against LCU to have a home series solidified.
The weekend meeting with LCU was a bit odd in terms of scheduling. We usually see one game Friday night and a double header Saturday. This time it was flipped with a doubleheader Friday and single game Saturday. In game 1, Pilots starter Brock Lucas and Wildcats starter Kade Linn had the good ole pitcher’s duel. Unfortunately, Linn was better. All 3 LCU runs came in the 6th. Through 6 innings, LSUS had just one runner reach scoring position. In the 7th and final inning, Bronson Neave struck out looking to end the game as the go-ahead run.
Game 2 went a similar way. LSUS starter David Hankins matched LCU starter Brandon Carter in nearly every stat. LCU scored all their runs in one inning. The big differences, LCU found their runs in the 3rd, and the Pilots struck the run column with a 2-run bomb from Nazir Mendez. One more similarity to game 1, Neave recorded the final out, this time with a fly out to center, stranding Carlos Vega on 3rd base as the tying run.
Game 3 saw 15 total pitchers take the hill. As Pilots head coach Brad Neffendorf told me leading into this series, Shreveport and LCU are very similar, especially in the rotation. Two strong starters for games 1 and 2, but a question mark for game 3. LSUS had an answer for game 3 in Robert Lastra, but an elbow injury likely has him sidelined for the season. Shreveport tallied 19 runs in their 19-8 victory. The offensive star was Vega, who went 5-6 with 3 RBIs and a homer. Dorien Jackson also showed out with 2 hits and 4 RBIs. Next step for Shreveport, win 2 of 3 against Southwest and book a trip to Monroe.
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