Despite not being nationally ranked or receiving votes for the NAIA polls, Nelson is a solid team who now have a very similar record to the Pilots at 31-14. It was a rough start to the game with Nelson putting three runs on the board in the 1st inning. Evan Gant started on the mound and was only able to record a single out. Part of the struggles came with a rough throwing error by swift-fielding shortstop Que Walton. 

It took until the 4th inning for the Pilots to put a run on the board. Down 4-0, Spencer Sullivan, Dorien Jackson, and Andrew Perez had RBI singles That made it a 1 run game. A solo homer by Drew Perez in the 5th made it Lions by 2. The closest Shreveport got to a win in this game was in the bottom of the 5th when Sullivan had another RBI single followed by a game-tying knock from Rodrigo Bravo. That was the last run the Pilots scored on Tuesday. 

An 8th inning sacrifice fly from the last batter in the Nelson lineup, TJ Sweat, served as the difference. Shreveport attempted a 9th inning comeback but fell short after Carlos Vega grounded out with the tying run on 2nd base. 

It is an important time of the season. For Head Coach Brad Neffendorf, the postseason has already begun, “The postseason has already started. It’s been the postseason for a couple weeks. Everything we do going forward puts us in position or takes us out of position of what we are trying to do.” The goal right now for Shreveport and all the other qualifying team in the Red River conference is to either keep their current position in the standings or do what they can to get as high as possible in the standings. 

The Pilots enter the weekend 1 game behind Texas A&M-Victoria for 1st place in the Red River conference. The top four team in the conference are separated by 2 games, with the 5th place Louisiana Christian, who LSUS plays this weekend, 3 games back of 1st place. Neffendorf understands it will be another tough, playoff-like weekend at Louisiana Christian, “They’re good. They’re really good in their ballpark.” The two teams are very similar, especially in the starting rotation. 

Putting Neffendorf’s words simply, Friday is the biggest day of the year. Once Friday is over, Saturday becomes the biggest day of the season and so on until the final pitch of the season is thrown. Neffendorf still believes the champs will figure it out. He pointed out that the biggest thing they must find is consistency. They look to find that consistency starting Friday in Pineville.