JOURNAL SPORTS
LSU Shreveport’s baseball season ended Wednesday with a high note followed by a bitter pill to swallow.
Last year’s unbeaten NAIA World Series champions are defending no longer. The 12th-ranked Pilots were knocked out of the 2026 postseason on their homefield, 7-4, by 18th-ranked Mid-America Christian, which will advance from the Opening Round Shreveport Bracket to Lewiston, Idaho, to begin the World Series on May 22.
The Pilots (43-14) flashed their best form and a continuing flair for the dramatic to reach the regional championship round, fighting off Oklahoma Wesleyan 6-5 in 11 innings in Wednesday’s losers’ bracket final in midday.
The Pilots got a fourth-inning RBI double from Dorien Jackson, scoring Quaterrion Walton, followed by a two-run single by Carlos Vega that boosted them up 4-2. Walton reached on an error and scored on another one in the sixth for a three-run edge.
The Eagles, who took LSUS down to the last pitch Monday night in a one-run Pilots’ walk-off win, got a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning by Brenden Poindexter.
It was Walton, again, making the difference. Having scored the winning run Monday night, he did it again, this time reaching on a wild pitch on a strikeout and scoring on Rodrigo Bravo’s sacrifice fly to provide the decisive run. He stole three bags in the victory.
The Pilots were tenacious in their second meeting with Mid-America Christian, which dumped LSUS 8-2 Tuesday. After the Evangels jumped to a 3-0 lead in the opening inning Wednesday, the home team posted a four-run second inning.
Walton – who else? – ripped a two-run triple to push LSUS even and Jackson drove him in with a single for a 4-3 lead.
But Mid-America Christian (42-13) flexed one more time in the sixth, plating four runs, three scoring on a double by Adam Hanan.
The Pilots brought in 30 new players to replace a huge graduation class from the 59-0 national championship team, and after not winning the regular-season Red River Athletic Conference crown for the first time in five years, swept through unbeaten to capture the conference tournament for the third straight season and 16th time overall.
LSUS made its 24th NAIA Tournament appearance, including the last 22 years in a row.