2-seeded Jags square off with USW in RRAC Opening Round

Last week's sweep of LSU Alexandria couldn't have come at a better time for No. 14-ranked UHV baseball.

The three wins snapped a five-game losing streak and put the Jaguars (37-13, 22-8) back on track right in time for this week's Red River Athletic Conference Tournament at the Sterlington Sports Complex in Sterlington, Louisiana.

UHV opens the tournament at 5 p.m. Thursday vs. seven-seed University of the Southwest.

"It was amazing to see," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha, who is one win shy of his 100^th as a head coach. "They got together last week and said, 'Hey, let's get back to what we do and hold each other accountable.' That's exactly what they did. They came out last week and got back to our basics and what we do great. I think they now realize what they're capable of again and back on the right foot heading into the conference tournament."

In last week's series, the top third of the order in DeeAndre Torres, Cristian Garcia and Hal Perez combined to hit .394 with 15 RBIs. Torres closed the series going 4-for-4 with three RBIs and a triple.

That led to UHV hitting .394 as a unit and averaging 11 runs per game in the sweep of the Generals. The Jaguars had nine players hit over .350 last weekend.

"I really like the way the top of our lineup made some adjustments and got back on track," Stavinoha said. "That's what you want from those three at the top of the lineup, and we were able to drive them in as well. Plus, the production from the bottom of the lineup was able to flip it back over to them. If you can do that consistently, you're going to keep the pressure on and score a lot of runs."

The Jaguars also got strong pitching performances to close the season, which hasn't been uncommon from the third-best pitching staff in the NAIA in terms of ERA (3.50).

Senior starter Julian Garcia earned his second RRAC Pitcher of the Week honors after striking out a season-high 10 batters for the second consecutive week and allowing just two hits and a walk in a 10-0 run-rule win over LSUA. The Houston native boasts a 2.41 ERA which ranks fourth in the conference.

"He's really been locked in," Stavinoha said. "He's been finding his groove at the right time and it's been like that all season. But he's stepped his level up these past couple of weeks."

Junior lefty Brady Parker became the new single-season strikeout record holder at UHV last week and his 103 punchouts rank fourth nationally.

But nothing was more encouraging than seeing redshirt freshman Ryan Rodriguez earn his first career win in Game 1 of the LSUA series. The Needville native threw two shutout relief innings in the 15-6 win, striking out three before turning the ball over to Justin Mireles, who earned a three-inning save behind Rodriguez.

Combined, UHV's bullpen threw seven shutout innings last week to close the regular season.

"Our bullpen is clicking on all cylinders," Stavinoha said. "They're doing the right thing. To have those guys either pick us up or finish it off in these games is big. It's put up or shut up time. It's nice to have those guys out of the 'pen that will come in and shut a lineup down."

The Jaguars swept the Mustangs (25-23, 14-16) 4-0, 6-5 and 7-0 during the regular season. But Stavinoha knows they can't give Southwest an opportunity to capitalize on any mistakes.

"They're a good offensive club," Stavinoha said. "We pitched it really well in the series with them. If we can do that again – get good, strong performances from our pitching staff – that'll set the tone from there. Obviously, on the offensive side, we need to come out and scratch runs across, have great ABs and we'll be fine. We've got to play our game and control the momentum."

This is the first year the double elimination conference tournament has been split into two separate brackets: Bracket A and Bracket B. Bracket A features LSU Shreveport (1), Our Lady of the Lake (4), LSUA (5) and Huston-Tillotson (8). Bracket B is UHV (2), Texas A&M-Texarkana (3), Louisiana Christian (6) and USW (7). The championship round will be one game only, even if both teams are undefeated in the tournament.

The winner of Thursday's UHV-USW game will face the TAMUT-LCU winner at 5 p.m. Friday while the two losers square off in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Friday.