JOURNAL SPORTS

With 30 new players, the LSU Shreveport baseball team will develop its own identity this season.

It borrowed from last year’s undefeated NAIA championship squad to sweep a season-opening doubleheader at Pilots Field over Tabor (Kan.), 7-5 and 6-0, Thursday.

Brad Neffendorf’s new edition showed resiliency, run-scoring ability and in the second game, dominant pitching as it claimed a piece of history.

The two victories padded the longest win streak at any level of college baseball to 61 consecutive dubs by LSUS since the start of the 2025 campaign.

Last year’s club wasn’t often challenged but responded in winning fashion each time. Its success was built on a prolific offense and a pitching staff that often handcuffed hitters.

In Thursday’s first game, the Pilots came from behind three times, going ahead to stay in the bottom of the seventh on a solo homer by Nazier Mendez. A sacrifice fly from Spencer Sullivan, his third RBI, padded the edge in the eighth.

Calvin Shepherd, one of a handful of returning players, earned a save by striking out five and keeping the Bluejays off the scoreboard, getting the final six outs. A strikeout got him out of a bases-loaded threat in the eighth, then he set down the side on strikes to end the game.

Four pitchers combined on a two-hitter in the nightcap while Carlos Vega drove in three runs, including a solo homer.

LSUS will hope to play again Tuesday evening at home in an exhibition contest with Centenary. The Pilots have 14 of their first 18 games at home.