Jags upset No. 2 LSU-Shreveport to advance to RRAC Final

STERLINGTON, La. – For the second consecutive year, the UHV baseball team will play for the Red River Athletic Conference tournament championship. This time, they're the undefeated team.

The Jaguars beat top-seeded and No. 2-ranked LSU-Shreveport 9-8 on Monday to advance to Tuesday's championship round. UHV (25-25) will face either the Pilots (44-7) or LSU-Alexandria at 1 p.m. with a 5 p.m. game if necessary.

"When you get punched in the face, you love to answer back," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "We did it the other day and we did it again today. We're playing Jag ball. It's next guy up, no matter what. The next guy up is going to pick up the guy before him and we've been executing it well."

Westley Schields' solo home run to left field in the eighth inning proved to be the difference, putting UHV up 9-6 at the time. It was his first homer of the year.

The senior infielder finished 2-for-4 with an RBI from the leadoff spot.

"I knew (Ryan Isler) threw hard and was going to trust his fastball," Schields said. "I got ahead 2-0 and he left one right there for me. My swing has felt good all year, but it feels really good to finally get one like that."

The Houston native and Ty Williams each had multi-hit games for the Jaguars.

Williams was 2-for-3 with two RBIs on a pair of singles in the first and third innings. Raul Lopez had two RBIs and three runs scored in the game. Both of Lopez's RBIs came in UHV's five-run third inning to go up 6-2.

It was the second straight game in which the Jaguars got to their opponent's bullpen early. LSU-Shreveport starter Sayer Diedrich exited the game without recording an out in the third and five runs on his ledger to take the loss.

"The thing I told the team is we're not going to win on one swing," Williams said. "It's got to be every single pitch, taking bad pitches and putting the barrel on the ball. Everyone's got the power. We've got pop here. It just takes connecting and not trying to do too much."

Justin Mireles was credited with his second win of the tournament and third of the year after 2.2 innings of relief for starter Julian Garcia.

Mireles and Garcia combined for four strikeouts while issuing just two walks in nine total innings.

"It's really just pure joy," Mireles said. "I've been waiting to play in this tournament for two years. So, getting my second win this tournament is something special."