Jags No. 6 seed, get rematch with OLLU at conference tournament

The UHV baseball team will meet a familiar foe to kick off the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament this week in Sterlington, Louisiana.

The Jaguars (22-25, 16-13) enter as the sixth seed and will face three-seeded Our Lady of the Lake at 1 p.m. on Friday at the Sterlington Sports Complex.

It's a rematch of a February series which saw UHV drop two of three to the Saints (29-18, 20-9). The two teams also met in last year's RRAC tournament with the Jaguars getting the better of OLLU.

"This is the time of year we've waited for," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "The conference tournament is a fun environment where everything is on the line. I feel we've made a lot of improvement from February and hope we get to show that."

UHV is coming of a split with Texas A&M-Texarkana. The third game of the series was ruled a no contest.

In a 4-3 win over the Eagles on Friday, senior Hayden Leopold hit his second home run of the season.

The Columbus native is hitting .380 over his last 15 games with 14 RBIs and hits in 14 of those 15 games. His .335 average this season leads the team.

The Jaguars have hit 40 home runs this season, which ranks second in the conference. Kaden Fikac, Zach Lee, Ty Williams and Haldemel Perez lead the team with seven homers each.

"We've put together a lot of really great ABs over the last few weeks," Stavinoha said. "Our guys are being a lot more patient which is leading to better pitches to hit. If we want to make a run this week, we have to keep that up."

Pitchers Mason Longoria and Brady Parker have led the way for the Jaguars' rotation this season.

Longoria boasts 72 strikeouts this year, which is second most in the conference. The Victoria St. Joseph product has a 3-1 record in his last five starts.

Parker, a Victoria East product, has won his last three starts to improve to 6-3 on the season. His six wins ranks fourth in the conference.

Julian Garcia has remained one of the conference's better strikeout pitchers, punching out 70 batters this year to rank fourth.

"We've seen a lot of good from our pitchers, especially late in the season," Stavinoha said. "Mason has been more aggressive in the zone, which has helped him strike more batters out. Brady has really embraced his role as a freshman to give us opportunities to win. We need them to go out there and do it again this week."

The winner of Friday's game will face the winner of the Louisiana Christian-Jarvis Christian game at 5 p.m. on Saturday, while the losers will square off in an elimination game at 1 p.m.