Despite their rough looking record, the Mustangs are no slouch, and they showed it on Thursday. Once again, the final line did not look the greatest for starting pitcher David Hankins, but the bulk of offense he gave up came in the first two innings. He finished with three earned runs given up on six hits, and one strikeout. After allowing a three-run second inning, he did not allow another Mustang to cross home. Southwest was up 4-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning, highlighted by a three-run double from Dong Joon Shin. From that point forward, Shreveport outscored Southwest 11-1. 

The Pilot offense started when Makana Olaso took one into the trees in left to make it 4-1. Three more came across in the bottom of the third when Olaso drove in another with a fielder’s choice and Bronson Neave tied it with a single laced into right field. A Carlos Vega double gave LSUS the lead in the fourth. The next piece of offense came in the seventh when a Mark Gonzales sacrifice fly from Southwest tied things. Vega drove in the go-ahead run again in the bottom of the seventh with a sacrifice fly of his own. 

Until the eighth inning, Shreveport could not muster more than a one-run lead. Things continued to look bleak to start the Pilots half of the eighth with the first two batters being retired. LSUS found something though as they proceeded to bat around and put up five runs with two outs. The highlight was Vega, who drove in three off a 2-4 performance. Vega had not seen any consistent playing time since March 6 as he had been dealing with a hand injury. He is just now able to play through it and showed Shreveport how much he has missed. This is without mentioning the two web gems he made at third base that saved at least one run from scoring. 

The Pilots had been in first place in the Red River conference for quite some time. However, with their recent losses to Our Lady of the Lake and Texas A&M-Victoria, they fell as far as fourth in the RRAC standings heading into Thursday. It is a competitive conference this season. With the RRAC tournament looming, you could pick out at least four, maybe five teams who may have a shot at the tournament crown. It will be a tougher tournament than usual for the reigning champs, but regardless of how the standings finish, Shreveport will be the team to beat. They look to continue the fight for the regular season title on Good Friday, April 3, with a doubleheader against the Mustangs starting at noon.