Jarvis Christian College continues its streak of playing in Red River Athletic Conference Tournaments with its upcoming fourth straight appearance. The Bulldogs are going into the tournament 25-27 overall and 20-12 in the RRAC. Jarvis Christian will be the number four seed and face fifth-seeded Our Lady of the Lakes in the first round of the RRAC tournament on Friday, May 6th, at 11:00 AM Central Daylight Time.
The five-team tournament is divided into two double-elimination brackets and will take place at Pilots Field in Shreveport, Louisiana. The winners of each bracket advance to the championship, to be played at 1:00 PM Sunday or Monday, if necessary.
The other teams in the RRAC bracket are top-seed Louisiana State University-Alexandria, Louisiana State University-Shreveport, Houston-Victoria, and Our Lady of The Lakes. The winner of Friday’s first game (Jarvis Christian vs Our Lady of The Lakes) will square off against LSU-Alexandria on Friday at 7:00 PM in the nightcap, while the loser of game one will play an elimination game Saturday at 11:00 AM. The winner of the RRAC Tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.
Offensively, Jarvis Christian has a nice mix of veteran experience led by outfielder Javion Randle, who leads the nation in hitting with a .476 batting average. He also has 3 home runs and 47 runs batted in. Randle has carried and willed the Bulldogs to four straight RRAC conference tournaments. DeAndre McGuire, hitting .354 with 1 home run and 21 runs batted in, leads the team with 30 stolen bases. Carlos Andrade, batting .300, is tied for the team lead with 3 home runs and has driven in 37 runs. Nico Maldonado hitting .281, is also tied for the team lead with 3 home runs and has 19 RBIs.
On the mound, hard-throwing starters, RHP Elias Novelo (6-2) with an ERA of 4.09 and LHP Luke Thornton (6-5) with an ERA of 4.78 will definitely see action on the mound. Who starts on Saturday will be dependent on how pitching is used during the first game of the tournament. Jarvis Christian can also turn to Emilio Griego, team leader in strikeouts (43) and Dylan Martinelli who has 31 strikeouts.
Jarvis Christian won three of four, defeating Our Lady of The Lakes University during the regular season in conference play this past April 8-9th.
The official announcement of the 46 national championship opening round qualifiers and opening round brackets will occur Friday, May 13 via a live selection show. The show will be broadcast on NAIA.org at 3:00 PM.
The game can be heard on Live Audio at 11:00 AM Central Daylight Time.
Jarvis lost to LSU-Alexandria 6-1. The Tigers managed only six hits off Cole Feazell, who was one out short of a complete game. Randle went 0-for-3. Emilio Griego, who pitched six innings, for the Tigers on Friday, pitched nine innings today.
LSU-Shreveport won 18-16. The Tigers got four runs in the top of the 8th and trailed by only 16-15, but the Pilots got a couple in the bottom of the eighth. This was ugly, folks. NINE errors by the Pilots; 11 of the Tigers’ runs were unearned.
Randle went 5-for-5 with three RBI.
The Tigers will play either LSU-Alexandria or Our Lady of the Lake at 2 PM CDT Sunday.
LSU-Shreveport leads 16-11 after seven innings.
Jarvis leads 6-4 after two innings. Most of the runs by both teams were unearned. Novelo got the start. Randle is 2-for-2. He came up in the second with the bases loaded. He hit a bunt single, was credited with an RBI, and two more runs scored on an error.
The quality of the audio webcast is better today.
Jarvis won, 7-6. The ending was a bit more exciting than the Bulldogs would have preferred. They led 7-3 going into the ninth, and LSU-Alexandria had the tying run on second with one out.
Randle went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
So, the Bulldogs play host team LSU-Shreveport at 3 PM CDT on Saturday. The Pilots won the regular season series three games to one. Do the Bulldogs have enough pitching left to win this thing? They have one reliable starter left, Elias Novelo, who is 6-2, 4.09 ERA.
Bob… thanks for the updates.
Jarvis Christian won 11-6, and Randle got a hit in three at-bats. Now for the big test against LSU-Alexandria at 7:30 CDT.
They finally pitched to Randle in the top of the fourth, and he drew a walk anyway. The next batter hit a double, and Randle scored.
Listening to the Jarvis Christian vs. Our Lady of the Lake game. Randle has been intentionally walked both times he has come to bat. Jarvis leads 7-0 in the third inning.
It’s unfortunate that we aren’t getting video. This could be our last chance to see the best hitter in NAIA.