KINGSPORT, TN – The three-seeded Louisiana State University of Alexandria baseball team kept their NAIA Opening Round appearance alive with a 7-4 win over five-seeded William Woods University.
Today's win is LSUA's first NAIA National Championship win since 2015 when the Generals (34-16) recorded a 9-4 victory over Judson University in Kingsport.
Colin Ardoin (3-0) threw seven innings of one-run ball. The only run he allowed was unearned. Ardoin struck out six.
Eli Finley earned his first save of the season. He struck out two in an inning of relief.
Offensively,
Dalton Wilson drove in four with a grand slam in the seventh inning.
Joshua Tinnerello also left the yard with a solo home run in the sixth.
Evan Rohlfs-Schadel drove in one run as well. The trio recorded two hits each.
A fielding error in the first allowed
Landon Langley to reach and
Cameren Parks to score for an early 1-0 lead. Rohlfs-Schadel took advantage of the extended inning and roped an RBI double down the right field line to plate Langley.
The Owls (29-23) got a run back in the second. An RBI single from Colby Caton brought Camron Casso in as an unearned run.
Tinnerello's and Wilson's big flies came in the sixth and seventh inning, respectively, putting LSUA ahead 7-1.
William Woods pushed across three runs in the ninth on a pair of RBI singles from Kaden Kinsler and Jared Bendfield, as well as a fielder's choice from Sam Russo. Finley struck out Jackson Kim to end the rally and seal the victory for the Generals, leaving runners on the corners.
LSUA takes on top-seeded Webber International (Fla) at 6:00 PM ET (5:00 PM CT) tonight in an elimination game.
