JOURNAL SPORTS
For the second straight year, a stumble out of the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament this week didn’t detract from a strong regular-season performance by the LSUS baseball team, which had already secured a hosting role for an NAIA Regional.
Thursday, the NAIA released brackets and seedings for its tournament, leading regional champions to the NAIA World Series. LSUS retained its No. 2 national ranking a day earlier and Thursday was confirmed as the top seed in a five-team Shreveport Bracket beginning Monday.
The RRAC regular-season champion Pilots (44-8) get a first-round bye and will play on their homefield Monday evening at 6:30 against the winner of fourth-seeded Mid-America Nazarene (30-25) and No. 5 Dillard (22-28) in the double-elimination regional. Dillard, in its first season of baseball, won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament to qualify for the regional berth.
The other first-round pairing Monday pits second-seeded McPherson (36-14) against the No. 3 seed, Morningside (36-16).
The Mid-America Nazarene-Dillard game begins at 11 a.m. Monday.
Last year, LSUS was shocked in its opening-round game but fought back through the elimination round to prevail and advance to the World Series. The Pilots bowed out in the semifinals of the national tournament.
