Baseball Season Ends in Opening Round Championship Game

Shreveport, La. - Weather made things difficult for the week of the NAIA Opening Round Shreveport Bracket, but Thursday morning saw clearer skies as the Pilots faced off with the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes for a trip to the World Series. A highly contested pitcher's duel concluded with a 2-1 loss for LSUS bringing their season to an end. The Pilots would have another great year finishing with a 44-11 record. This was the sixth consecutive 40 win season for the program. 

In a must-win game for LSUS, the Pilots went to their ace Isaac Rohde. Kansas Wesleyan was able to get to Rohde early and plate runs in both the first and second innings, but would be held scoreless the remainder the game. Once Rohde settled in, he become nearly unhittable striking out 11 batters while only giving up two runs. Rohde would go 6.0 innings before being releived by Alex Gonzalez, then David Hankins, Tanner Young and Josh Fortenberry. The Pilot's bullpen would go three scoreless innings keeping their chances alive while giving their offense an opportuity to break through. This would be the last time that Gonzalez and Fortenberry would get to pitch at Pilot Field. 

Throughout the morning, the LSUS offense never could find their stroke against Maddock and Gearlds for the Coyotes. The Pilots would score their only run in the fourth inning with an AJ Fritz single that would score Vantrel Reed from second. LSUS would move runners into scoring position a few more times throughout the game, but could never do enough to find that tying run. The ninth inning would see the leadoff batter, Christian Hobbs reach base, giving the Pilots the chance they needed. He would be replaced by the speedy Cooper Huspen in an effort to square up the game. Huspen would find his way into scoring position, but could never move past second. A groundout to the shortstop would end the game and the Pilot's season. Trevor Burkhart, also playing in his last game, would go 2 for 3 with a stolen base, with Reed going 2 for 4 with a double and a run. The rest of the Pilot's bats would be realatively quiet as the team would only scatter six hits. 

LSUS will return several of the key contributors as they will look to build off the legacy left by the Seniors from this year. We wish them all well and appreciate what they have accomplished as Pilots. 

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