Jags head to Louisiana Christian for pivotal series

It's not lost on the (RV) UHV baseball team what's in front of it heading into the final two weeks of the season.

The Jaguars (30-11, 17-7) head to Pineville, Louisiana, to square off with Louisiana Christian in a three-game conference series while holding a two-game lead over Texas A&M-Texarkana for second place in the Red River Athletic Conference. The Wildcats (24-15, 14-10) are three games behind UHV in fifth place.

"We want to go in, play our game and compete like always to give ourselves the best opportunity to win baseball games," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "LC is going to swing it very well, but I think we match up pretty good against them. Overall, if we play our game, we know we've got a chance to win every game in Pineville this weekend."

After a sweep of Jarvis Christian last weekend, the Jaguars are riding a five-game winning streak and have eclipsed the 30-win mark for the first time since 2011.

Despite the success, UHV understands it has its work cut out in the penultimate series of the regular season. The Wildcats, who are on an eight-game skid, own a 5-4 edge in the all-time series with the Jaguars, but UHV has won the last two meetings, including a 13-2 win in the second round of the RRAC Tournament last year.

Of the nine previous meetings, five have been decided by four runs or fewer. This season, UHV is 8-2 in one-run ballgames compared to 6-6 last year in the same type of games.

"It all comes back to the good pitching and defense," Stavinoha said. "You can't win close games like that if you don't have good pitching and good defense, and execute. That's what we've been able to do and grind out. We've got to keep that positive energy and drive to win those games. That's what takes it to the next level right there."

The Jaguars will trot out one of the nation's best pitching staffs, which boasts a 3.65 ERA – a mark that ranks fourth in the NAIA.

Senior right-hander Julian Garcia was named the RRAC Pitcher of the Week this week after throwing eight innings of one-run baseball against Jarvis while striking out a season-high nine batters. His eight wins this season is tied with LSU Shreveport's Isaac Rohde for the conference lead while his 2.51 ERA ranks second.

Junior Mason Longoria ranks second in the RRAC with 80 strikeouts after picking up his seventh win this season in a 6-4 win over Jarvis last Friday. Brady Parker is third with 67 to his credit this season.

Jacob Baker (3), Carson McKenna (2) and Justin Mireles (2) each picked up saves last week in the sweep of the Bulldogs. Drew Bradbury earned his first win of the season after throwing 3.1 innings out of the bullpen in a 14-13 extra-inning win over Southwestern Assemblies of God last Wednesday.

They'll contend against a Louisiana Christian lineup which leads the conference with a .333 batting average.

"Our starters have been exceptional," Stavinoha said, "but even better, our bullpen has come in and done great things. You look at McKenna, Mireles, Bradbury, Baker all the way through, we've got a lot of confidence in those guys and that's good to see here later in the season. Heading towards the tournament, you're gonna lean on those guys a lot and it gives you the confidence to go to them and hand them the rock and say, 'Do your thing.'"

At the plate, Raul Lopez has set the tone for the Jaguars, hitting safely in 26 of his last 27 games including each of the last seven. Over that time, the senior from El Paso is hitting .451 with 24 RBIs, 11 doubles, two triples and a pair of home runs.

In a 4-2 win in Game 2 against Jarvis, Hayden Leopold notched a pair of hits to set the new career hits record (232), breaking the previous record set by Dylan Blaha in 2013-2016.

"(Raul) has been on a tear the whole middle to second half of the season," Stavinoha said. "He's been going off and it's been fun to watch. He's always had it in him, but he's just really locked in right now. Hopefully he can keep that up and continue to have good approaches here as the regular season comes to a close and into the playoffs."

The series with the Wildcats kicks of with a Friday doubleheader at 3 and 6 p.m. followed by a 12 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.