Jags welcoming No. 3 LSU Shreveport on Homecoming week

The last time UHV baseball and LSU Shreveport met, a lot was on the line.

The Jaguars edged out the then-No. 2 ranked Pilots 9-8 thanks to an eighth-inning home run from Westley Schields in the Red River Athletic Conference Semifinals at the Sterlington Sports Complex in Louisiana.

It was the second year in a row UHV beat LSUS in the conference tournament, despite being swept in the previous two regular season series.

The Jaguars (19-7, 8-4) hope to buck the regular season trend when they welcome the No. 3 Pilots (23-2, 14-1) to Riverside Stadium Friday to open a three-game series and Homecoming Weekend.

"Last year at this time, when we went up to Shreveport, we were totally a different team," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "We were still trying to find each other and we still had a lot of question marks. Now, we're a more gelled team, a one mission, one goal type of squad. We all seem to be clicking on the same page right now."

UHV has won 10 of its last 11 games with the only loss coming against NCAA Division I Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

The Jaguars swept RRAC foe University of the Southwest on the road last week, improving the team's conference winning streak to six in a row.

With the Jaguars recent form, this weekend's series sets up to be a heavyweight bout with both teams ranking in the Top 5 nationally in ERA. UHV ranks fifth with a 3.32 staff ERA while LSUS leads the nation with a 2.96 ERA.

Jacob Baker leads the conference in ERA with 1.50. Julian Garcia (2.30) and Mason Longoria (2.74) rank third and fifth, respectively in the conference.

The Pilots' ace Isaac Rohde was named RRAC Pitcher of the Week this week and currently leads the conference in strikeouts with 62, nine ahead of UHV's Longoria in second.

"Both our pitching staffs are top five in the country," Stavinoha said. "It's going to be a heavyweight battle with the top arms going against each other. Ultimately, it's going to come down to good defense and who's going to put together good at-bats and make the other staff work."

The Pilots (.309) and Jaguars (.305) rank third and fourth in the conference in batting average.

Hayden Leopold is fifth in the conference with a .402 average and is sitting on an 11-game hitting streak. Senior center fielder Raul Lopez is on a team-leading 12-game hitting streak.

During the 12-game streak, the El Paso native is hitting .476 with 12 RBIs, six doubles and a triple.

Junior infielder Kaden Fikac shares third on the conference home run leaderboard with the Pilots' Vantrel Reed with five homers this season. The Victoria native had two homers in the Jaguars sweep of Southwest this weekend.

"He's protected on both ends and that really helps," Stavinoha said of Fikac. "He was locked in over the weekend. He'd been working on a couple of things, so it was great to see him get a few barrels and put together some good ABs. Everybody knows, when he's at the plate, anything can happen."

This weekend is Free Ticket Weekend Presented by Crossroads Bank.

Friday's 6:30 p.m. game is Little League Appreciation Night with Victoria Little Leaguers being recognized in a pre-game ceremony at 5:50 p.m. Plus, there is a scheduled flyover during the National Anthem by the World Famous VT-27 Boomers of the United States Navy from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.

Saturday's 12 p.m. doubleheader is Homecoming for UHV with the Royal Jaguars being announced after the first game.