SHREVEPORT, LA. (May 7, 2016) – Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) baseball defeated the University of Houston Victoria 12-8 in the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament's fourth game. The Saints will move on to the tournament's sixth game and face LSU-Alexandria at 7 p.m. this evening.

The win marks Head Coach Freddy Rodriguez's 200th career win and moves the Saints to 29-27 overall. Rodriguez commented, "I really wanted to reach this coaching milestone this year and with this team. This is a special group of young men, and I am honored to lead this team and be their coach." The Jaguars end their season with a 23-26 record.  

On the win, Rodriguez continued, "I am very proud of how we came out today. We came out with a lot of intensity and TJ [Kassner] set the tempo with his lead-off home run to start the game. Even when we fell behind, we stayed positive and believed in each other and that we would win the game. It was a good win and a total team effort."

TJ Kassner (FR/Corpus Christi, Texas) opened the game with a home run – his third of the season.  Josh Razo (SR/Pearland, Texas) hit a double to send Tyler Davis (SR/Weatherford, Texas) and Anthony DeJesus (SR/Sugarland, Texas) home. David Perez III (JR/El Paso, Texas) struck out swinging, but the ball was dropped. This gave Enrique Ruiz III (SO/Helotes, Texas) the opportunity to come home to score. The Saints took the 4-0 lead.

OLLU pitcher JB Martinez (FR/San Antonio, Texas) kept the bottom of the first inning scoreless, and the Saints came back to bat in the second and scored another run. A hit from DeJesus sent Darius Patton (JR/San Antonio, Texas) home and the Saints now led 5-0.

The Jaguars put their first run on the board in the third inning. Dylan Blaha doubled to right field and Andrew Gross came in to score. The Saints led 5-1.

The Jaguars tied the game in the fourth inning. A hit from Cole Coakley sent Mark Lopez home. With the bases loaded, Mitchell Matulia was hit by Martinez, and Robert Gleinser came home to score. Blaha singled to drive both Jacob Mendoza and Coakley home. The game was now tied at 5-5.

The Saints came back in the fifth inning to score two runs. Chance Evans (SO/Cleveland, Texas) walked and Perez came in to run. Ruiz and Connor Kalisky (JR/San Antonio, Texas) both got on base after being hit by the pitcher.  With the bases loaded,  Patton walked and Perez came home to score. Kassner also walked, and Ruiz touched home. The Saints increased their lead to 7-5.

Houston-Victoria took over the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Mendoza doubled to get on base. Coakley hit a sacrifice fly to send Lopez home, and Andrew Gross hit a home run to score Mendoza. The Jaguars took the 8-7 lead.

Garrett Harrison (FR/Victoria, Texas)'s single in the eighth inning sent Kassner home. Matthew Beasley (JR/Burleson, Texas) hit a double, and DeJesus and Harrison came in to score. The Saints took the 10-8 lead.

Jordan Hackett (SO/San Antonio, Texas) kept the Jaguars scoreless in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Saints added two more runs in the ninth. Kalisky hit a solo home run. Kassner doubled to drive in Ryan Ramsey (FR/Grapevine, Texas), and the Saints took the 12-8 lead. Hackett returned to close out the game with the 12-8 win for the Saints.

Chase Smith (JR/La Porte, Texas) earned the win for the Saints after he pitched two innings. Jordan Hackett got the save on two innings pitched. Suffering the loss was Dylan Blaha for the Jaguars.

Connor Kalisky went 3-4 for the Saints. He added an RBI and a run. TJ Kassner went 2-4 and had two runs and three RBIs. Tyler Davis, Anthony DeJesus and Garrett Harrison each had two hits. Matthew Beasley and Josh Razo had two RBIs each.

Dylan Blaha went 3-5 for the Jaguars and recorded three RBIs.