Mitscherling steps up as Jags beat OLLU in extras in RRAC tourney opener

STERLINGTON, La. – Cade Mitscherling felt confident at the plate for UHV's Red River Athletic Conference tournament opener with Our Lady of the Lake on Friday at the Sterlington Sports Complex.

Still, the Jaguars found themselves down 2-0 entering the top of the ninth inning.

Haldemel Perez capped a two-run rally to force extras before Mitscherling delivered the go-ahead RBI triple in the 10^th inning to give UHV a 3-2 win.

"If you walk around the dugout, you'd hear everyone saying, 'play Jag baseball,'" Mitscherling said. "When we come to the tournament, we have to play Jag baseball. That's just, if you mess up, relying on the guy behind you to have your back. That's what we did. We struggled for a little bit, but turned on the Jag baseball at the end."

The Jaguars (23-25) will face the Louisiana Christian-Jarvis Christian winner at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Mitscherling finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and a triple. He also scored a run.

"I just wanted to get a pitch to swing at," the Victoria native said. "My first three at-bats, I had three pitches. After that, they started to pitch around me. I was swinging at the stuff I knew I could mash. It worked out."

That's back-to-back multi-hit games for the senior third baseman after two hits in Game 2 of the Texas A&M-Texarkana series.

"(Joshua) Mendez threw a great game for OLLU and my hats off to him," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "We had plenty of chances early on, Mendez just got to us when he needed to. We just kept pushing and fighting. I told the guys before the ninth inning that, if we keep having those good ABs, we'll cash in and be on top at the end."

Justin Mireles was credited with his second win of the year after three innings of shutout relief.

Mason Longoria threw seven innings in which he didn't allow an earned run.

"(Justin) was locating his fastball well," Stavinoha said. "He was grinding in and around the strike zone. Wherever he wanted to throw it, he was putting it there and doing a great job with it. He's been grinding to get back and that hard work, it's just great to see it paying off for him."

Saturday's winner will advance to the semifinals on Sunday.