PINEVILLE, La. – The #20 Louisiana Christian University baseball team rode solid pitching and defense and used one inning's worth of good offense in each game to sweep Friday's doubleheader from the defending national champion, #7 LSU Shreveport Pilots, 3-0 and 3-2, at Billy Allgood Field.
 
Game 1 - #20 Louisiana Christian 3, #7 LSU Shreveport 0
 
#20 Louisiana Christian (34-9, 19-7 RRAC) starting pitcher Kade Linn and #7 LSU Shreveport (34-12, 19-7 RRAC) starting pitcher Brock Lucas dueled pitch-for-pitch in the day's opener with neither allowing a run until the game, scheduled for seven innings, was at its very end.
 
The Wildcats finally got the breakthrough in the bottom of the sixth inning. Matthew Cody was called upon to pinch hit to lead off the frame, and he got on the painful way, getting hit by a pitch. With Sterling Sims returning to the game to run for Cody, after Cody had hit for him, Jake Messina broke the stalemate as he dropped a hit fair down the right field line and it rolled into the corner for a double and Sims raced all the way home for the game's first run.
 
With Luke Morgan now taking Messina's place on the bases, Caleb Brown sacrificed him over to third, and he came home on a wild pitch for a bit of insurance.
 
LCU got even more insurance as Drake Aldridge, who was pinch hitting for Braden McLin, drew a walk. With McLin back in to run, he went to second as Braden Trull was hit by a pitch and came home on Chris Kelley's base hit to left-center for the 3-0 Wildcat lead, which would hold to game's end.
 
Messina led the offense by going 1-for-2 with a double and a RBI while his courtesy runner, Morgan, scored a run.
 
Kelley went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
 
Gavin Vordick, the reigning RRAC Player of the Week, was also 1-for-3 in the contest.
 
Linn (9-1) continued to be a dominant force on the mound for the Wildcats as he threw 6.2 innings and allowed just four hits and no runs with eight strikeouts and four walks to pick up the win on the mound.
 
Colton Williams came on with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the seventh and needed just four pitches to strike out the only batter he faced to pick up his fourth save of the season, and he wasn't finished for the day.
 
Game 2 - #20 Louisiana Christian 3, #7 LSU Shreveport 2
 
The Wildcats got all the runs they needed in the nightcap in the third inning. With one out, Owen Simoneaux dropped a base hit into center to get things started. A bobble by the Pilot pitcher allowed Brady Huffman to reach safely, and then Braden Trull was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Vordick came through with the big hit with two outs, dropping a base hit into left field which scored both Simoneaux and Huffman. Aldridge kept it going with a base hit to right which allowed Trull to score, though the final out of the inning happened behind him after the run scored.
 
That was all the offense Brandon Carter needed as he rolled through the LSUS line-up, though he had one mistake in the seventh which turned into a two-run home run, giving the Pilots their lone runs of the day as the Wildcat pitchers locked in and kept LSUS from scoring again.
 
Vordick was 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBI in the nightcap.
 
Aldridge was 1-for-4 with a RBI.
 
Simoneaux was 1-for-3 with a run scored.
 
Both Huffman and Trull scored once without the benefit of a base hit.
 
Cody had LCU's lone other base hit in the game in his one pinch hit opportunity.
 
Carter (8-2) had a stellar outing, going 7.2 innings, allowing three hits and two runs, both unearned, with one walk and seven strikeouts.
 
Thomas Collins walked the lone batter he faced, who was later stranded on base.
 
Williams came on with two outs in the eighth and runners on first and second bases and induced a liner to center field to get out of the jam. He then gave up a lead off base hit to start the ninth, but that runner was left stranded on third base when the inning ended to pick up his fifth save of the season, and second of the day. In the nightcap, he threw 1.1 innings, allowing one hit but getting the other four batters he faced out, not allowing a run. He did not walk or strike out any batters in game two.
 
The Wildcats will look to finish off the sweep of the defending national champions on Saturday as the two teams wrap up this crucial series with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m. at Billy Allgood Field. It will also be senior day on Saturday with the senior presentation set to start an hour before first pitch.
 
Heading into the final day of the regular season, LCU and LSUS are locked in a four-way tie for second place in the RRAC with LSU Alexandria and Our Lady of the Lake, who are playing each other this weekend in San Antonio.
 
The four teams are battling for the last three spots hosting a first round RRAC Tournament series next weekend, looking to join Texas A&M-Victoria, the 2026 RRAC regular season champion. The Wildcats can earn one of those host spots next weekend by finishing the sweep of the Pilots or a loss by OLLU to the Generals on Saturday.