JOURNAL SPORTS
Considering the rainy weather Wednesday is expected to continue through Friday, the Red River Athletic Conference has delayed the start of its four-team baseball championship hosted by LSU Shreveport until Saturday.
Texas A&M-Victoria dethroned LSUS as the RRAC regular-season champions, going 21-6 in league play while the Pilots were 20-7. LSUS is one spot ahead of A&M-Victoria, standing 12th in the final NAIA Top 25 poll of the season.
The Jaguars swept the visiting Pilots in a March 27-28 series (8-6, 4-3, 5-2).
The other teams advancing to this weekend with first-round series wins were Our Lady of the Lake, which tied for fourth in the RRAC standings, and sixth-place Texas A&M-Texarkana. LSUS took 2-1 series wins over both teams.
The Pilots are hitting .348 as a team with 56 home runs. Carlos Sanchez is setting the pace for LSUS, hitting .388 with 75 RBI, 17 doubles, 13 triples, 11 home runs, and 35 stolen bases, while Makana Olaso has 15 home runs and 58 RBI. Landon Hunt has a team-best .429 average.
Brock Lucas has anchored the LSUS pitching staff with a 1.93 ERA, 9-2 record and 102 strikeouts in 79.1 innings. David Hankins is 7-1 with a 3.14 ERA and 55 strikeouts.
The revised schedule for the double-elimination tournament at Pilot Field:
Saturday
Game 1: Texas A&M-Victoria (35-13) vs. Our Lady of the Lake (34-16), 1 p.m.
Game 2: LSU Shreveport (38-12) vs. Texas A&M-Texarkana (29-23), 5 p.m.
Sunday
Game 3: L1 vs. L2, 11 a.m.
Game 4: W1 vs. W2, 3 p.m.
Game 5: W3 vs. L4, 7 p.m.
Monday
Championship Game: W4 vs. W5, 1 p.m.
Championship Game 2 (if necessary): 5 p.m.