VICTORIA, TEXAS (May 3, 2021) – With this week's sweep of the University of Houston-Victoria (UHV), the Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) baseball team has clinched the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) regular-season title – the first in Saints history.

The Saints defeated the Jaguars 22-1 and 10-4 on Sunday and 18-6 and 5-1 today to improve to 33-15 overall and finish with a 19-4 conference record. UHV completes the regular season with an overall 9-28 record and 7-16 in the conference. The Jaguars, along with the University of the Southwest, Texas A&M University – Texarkana, LSU-Alexandria and LSU-Shreveport, have also qualified for the conference postseason.

Head Coach Bryan Aughney commented, "What a great weekend! We knew what we had to do to win the conference outright, and it was a challenge not to get ahead of ourselves. Our guys played as we preached one game at a time. I could not be more proud of this group!

"As everyone has, this past year has been crazy; we have faced our fair share of adversity - but we kept pushing and working. There have been many great players and people who have been involved in our program since we arrived, and we are thankful to each for their work they have all put in. I am extremely excited for our seniors, as they have seen the progression first-hand.

"We had players step up all year, just like they did this weekend. We are excited to extend the season and know we still have goals to accomplish!"

Last week, Aughney earned his 100th win as an OLLU coach. He now has 104 wins at OLLU and 229 overall.

History

The Saints are 20-12 against the Jaguars all time. Earlier this season, the Saints overpowered UHV 19-1, 4-2, 3-1 and 14-5.

Game one

Jose Diaz (SR/Pinar del Rio, Cuba) started the scoring after he walked and a hit from Noah Rodriguez (SO/Victoria, Texas) sent him home. Alec Martinez (JR/Corpus Christi, Texas) took the mound and allowed a homer from Luis Vargas to tie the score. That would prove to be the only run the Jaguars would score the rest of the game. Diaz and Connor Dayton (SO/San Antonio, Texas) hit homers, while Jacob Mitchell (JR/Harker Heights, Texas ), Matthew Klar (SO/San Antonio, Texas) (two) and Rodriguez added doubles. Martinez pitched five innings and allowed four hits, while striking out five. The Saints won 22-1, and the game will go in the record book for the most runs scored by the Saints in history (the previous record was 20). The Saints also broke the all-time team RBI record with 20 (the previous record was 19). And finally, Diaz tied the all-time record for most runs in a game with four.

Game two

With back-to-back walks from Robert Arredondo (JR/Corpus Christi, Texas) and Diaz, Mitchell slammed the ball over left field to give the Saints a quick 3-0 lead. Klar followed with a single, and a triple from Rodriguez put the Saints up 4-0. A hit from Robert Lopez (SR/San Antonio, Texas) sent Rodriguez home, and Dayton scored on a stolen base to give the Saints the 6-0 first-inning lead.

The game remained there until OLLU scored in the top of the fourth on an RBI from Klar that scored Diaz. The Jaguars rallied to close out the fourth with four runs scored. In the sixth inning, Klar once again got a rally going after doubling to center to score Diaz. Klar also scored along with Rodriguez to put the Saints up 10-4 and to close out the game with no other runs scored. Jose Ramirez III (JR/Donna, Texas) earned the win after pitching four innings.

Game three

The Saints plated six runs in the second inning with runs by Klar, Dayton, Ryan Chapa (JR/Corpus Christi, Texas), Arredondo and Diaz. Two of those runs came in from Tyler Vivier (FR/San Antonio, Texas)'s homer to left field. In the third inning, the Saints continued their dominance with runs scored by Rodriguez, Lopez and Dayton to give the Saints the 9-0 lead.

The fifth was another multi-run inning with scoring by Vivier, Arredondo, Diaz and Mitchell, and the Saints now led 13-0. However, the Jaguars shot back with five runs on four hits to close out the fifth. The momentum switched back to the Saints in the sixth as the Saints added three more runs.

With the Saints leading 16-5, UHV scored a run in the sixth, while the Saints tallied two more runs in the seventh to win 18-6. Ram Maldonado (JR/McAllen, Texas) earned the win after pitching 4.1 innings.

Game four

In the final game of the series, the results were considerably lower than the previous three games. Mitchell hit a two-out homer to give the Saints the 1-0 lead in the third inning. Lopez reached first but advance to third on an error by the right fielder. Dayton's single sent Lopez home, and the Saints now led 2-0.

The Jaguars added their only run of the game in the fourth inning after Amilcar Montanez hit a homer over left field.

The game stayed dangerously close at 2-1 through the ninth, but a homer from Boedy Flores (SO/Harlingen, Texas) moved the Saints to a 4-1 lead. A misplayed founder allowed Jacob Montejano (SO/San Antonio, Texas) to score, and after the last inning, the Saints won 5-1.

Brett Vasquez (SO/Mont Belvieu, Texas) recorded the win after pitching 5.1innings while striking out six. He surpasses Jordan Hackett in the OLLU record books for the most wins in a season with nine.

Offensive standouts

Klar: 8-15, 6 runs, 5 RBIs

Dayton: 7-14, 7 runs, 5 RBIs, homerun

Mitchell: 6-15, 6 runs, 9 RBIs, 2 home runs (new record holder for most home runs in a season – 8, and most RBIs with 44)

Diaz: 5-13, 10 runs, 4 RBIs, homerun

Chapa: 6-14, 3 runs, 4 RBIs

Rodriguez: 4-15, 4 runs, 4 RBIs

What's next

The Saints will get set for the conference tournament that will take place May 7-10 at LSU-Shreveport in Louisiana. Seedings and game times will be announced this week.