Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
RED RIVER ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
  • JARVIS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

    JARVIS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

  • LOUISIANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

    LOUISIANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

  • LSU ALEXANDRIA

    LSU ALEXANDRIA

  • LSU SHREVEPORT

    LSU SHREVEPORT

  • NORTH AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

    NORTH AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

  • NORTH TEXAS-DALLAS

    NORTH TEXAS-DALLAS

  • OUR LADY OF THE LAKE UNIVERSITY

    OUR LADY OF THE LAKE UNIVERSITY

  • UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHWEST

    UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHWEST

  • TEXAS A&M-SAN ANTONIO

    TEXAS A&M-SAN ANTONIO

  • TEXAS A&M-TEXARKANA

    TEXAS A&M-TEXARKANA

  • TEXAS A&M-VICTORIA

    TEXAS A&M-VICTORIA

  • TEXAS COLLEGE

    TEXAS COLLEGE

  • XAVIER UNIVERSITY

    XAVIER UNIVERSITY

RRAC sending more teams to NAIA Baseball Opening Round than any conference
Posted: May 08, 2026

RRAC sending more teams to NAIA Baseball Opening Round than any conference

WACO, Texas (May 8, 2026) – The Red River Athletic Conference is sending the most teams to the Opening Round of the 69th Annual Baseball Tournament Championship, which will be played on May 11-14 at campus sites. Qualifying for nationals are Louisiana Christian (At-Large), LSU Alexandria (At-Large), LSU Shreveport (Tournament Champion), Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) (At-Large), and Texas A&M-Victoria (Regular-Season Champion).
 
Each Opening Round will use a double-elimination format. Six sites will host five-team brackets. Four sites will host four-team brackets. When the tournament ends, 10 teams will advance to historic Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho. The 2026 Avista NAIA World Series starts May 22 and continues through May 30. Only one team will be crowned champion.
 
RRAC Qualifiers
 
Third-seed LSU Alexandria, which finished fourth in the RRAC, will travel to Kingsport, Tenn. There, the Generals will face second-seed Tennessee Wesleyan at 1:30 p.m. on May 11. In the five-team Kingsport bracket, the other first-round matchup will be between fourth-seed Indiana Wesleyan and fifth-seed William Woods (Mo.), with top-seed Webber International (Fla.) receiving a bye.
 
Second-seed Louisiana Christian will travel to Lawrenceville, Ga., to face third-seed Marian (Ind.) at 2 p.m. in the opening round on May 11. The five-team Lawrenceville bracket also includes top-seed Georgia Gwinnett, fourth-seed Northwestern Ohio, and fifth-seed Talladega (Ala.).
 
Texas A&M-Victoria, the second seed, will face third-seed Hope International (Calif.) at 1:30 p.m. on May 11, while Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) will play Keiser (Fla.) in the other matchup of the four-team Lewiston bracket.
 
In the Salina, Kan., bracket, top-seed Johnson (Tenn.) will face fourth-seed Our Lady of the Lake (Texas), and second-seed Kansas Wesleyan will play third-seed Concordia (Neb.). The Saints will play Johnson at 1:30 p.m. on May 11.
 
First-seed LSU Shreveport will host the Shreveport, La., bracket and will play at 5 p.m. on May 11 against the winner of the fourth-seed Oklahoma Wesleyan versus fifth-seed Huston-Tillotson (Texas) game. Mid-America Christian (Okla.) is the second seed. Loyola (La.) is the third seed.
 
NAIA Appearances
 
LSUA first appeared in the opening round of nationals in 2014, then followed in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022.
 
The Wildcats earned their first trip to nationals in 1987. Thirty-seven years later, in 2024, LCU went 2-2 in the opening round. Last season, the Wildcats lost both games at the regionals.
 
The Jaguars are making their third NAIA tournament appearance in the last four years, in 2023 and 2025.
 
OLLU made its first and only appearance at nationals in 2021, when the Saints fell to Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) and St. Thomas (Fla.).
 
LSUS has the most storied history among all RRAC baseball teams. Last year, the Pilots went undefeated and won the NAIA World Series Championship. They have 23 regional appearances, six NAIA Regional/Opening Round Championships, and six NAIA World Series appearances.
 
Team Overviews 
 
The Pilots, which appeared in all NAIA Top 25 polls this season, held their opponents to five runs or less 33 times this season and had five shutouts. They recorded seven conference series wins and only two series losses. They led the conference for most of the first half of the season.
 
LSUS boasts one of the NAIA's best players: second baseman Carlos Sanchez. He played all 53 games, and he led the RRAC and finished top-10 in the NAIA in most offensive stats. He committed just one error. The junior transfer from Florida Southwestern State, a native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, turned in a season worthy of his RRAC Player of the Year award.
 
The Pilots also boasted the RRAC's Co-Pitcher of the Year Brock Lucas, a senior from Hardinsburg, Ky., playing in his second season. He recorded a 10-2 record and a 1.83 ERA, while striking out 111. Lucas struck out 10 or more batters four times this season. Against Texas College in mid-March, he pitched a complete seven-inning game, allowing three hits and an unearned run, while striking out 13.
 
A&M-Victoria, which was ranked three times in the NAIA Top 25 poll, also has two of the league's most successful players, both of whom are new to the Jaguars. Antonio Benitez, RRAC Newcomer of the Year, and Beck Zimmerman, RRAC Freshman of the Year, propelled the Jaguars' championship run.
 
Benitez, a transfer from Peru State College and a native of Carolina, P.R., delivered a prolific weekend against top-ranked LSUS (March 27-28) with six hits, seven total bases, and two runs. His performance vaulted the Jaguars to the top of the leaderboard, where they stayed the remainder of the season. Benitez is batting .400 and has contributed defensively with 59 putouts, 118 assists, and 11 double plays.
 
Freshman catcher Beck Zimmerman had three four-hit games, one five-RBI game, three four-RBI games, and five three-RBI games. In mid-March against Texas Southern, he went 2-for-5 with five RBIs, a double, a home run, and two runs. Like Benitez, Zimmerman's defense was vital, with 188 putouts, 22 assists, two double plays, and just three errors all season.
 
A&M-Victoria also boasts the RRAC Co-Pitcher of the Year, Blane Zeplin. The senior transfer from Stephen F. Austin State (Texas) is a native of Victoria, Texas. He had a season-high 11 strikeouts against Texas A&M-Texarkana in early March. Zeplin won 10 and lost one in 16 appearances. He completed the year with a 2.96 ERA and 110 strikeouts.
 
The Wildcats appeared in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll all four periods this season. All-Conference First-Team recipient Matthew Cody, a Nunez Community College transfer from Hammond, La., turned in an outstanding performance in the series against Texas A&M-Texarkana in mid-March. He logged seven hits, five runs, two doubles, and three RBIs. During the season, Cody tallied 13 multi-hit games and once had an eight-game hitting streak. On defense, he put out 63-of-64 attempts with zero errors.
 
The Wildcats pitching staff had much success this season, especially from outstanding performances from starter and First-Team winner Kade Linn and reliever Colton Williams, also a First-Team recipient. Linn posted a 10-1 record with a career-high 97 strikeouts. He struck out a season-high 12 batters twice, against Xavier (La.) and Central Methodist (Mo.). The graduate student from New Iberia, La., is playing in his third season with LCU. Williams provided six saves for A&M-Victoria in 29 innings pitched, striking out 39. The four-year senior from Rayville, La., compiled a 1.86 ERA.
 
LSUA junior outfielder Landon Langley, from Iowa, La., led the team with 54 hits. Six were doubles, five were triples, and two were home runs, and he tallied 46 RBIs. His best game came against Southwest (N.M.), where he secured eight hits and eight RBIs. He made only three errors in 48 games. Langley, a First-Team member, put out 88 runners and led the team with 29 double plays.
 
Dalton Wilson, a First-Team winner, smashed a team-leading six home runs and had a .614 slugging percentage. He scored four runs in four games this season. Wilson notched an impressive seven RBIs against USW in mid-March and four stolen bases against Park in early February. The junior outfielder from Greenwell Springs, La., committed just one error this season.
 
Senior Jack Kalisky, a four-time All-Conference First-Team recipient from Our Lady of the Lake (Texas), led his team in most categories on offense. His most impressive stats are 20 doubles, almost twice as many as any other OLLU player, 43 walks, more than double that of anyone else, and a team-leading .522 on-base percentage and .393 batting average. He knocked out four hits in four games this season and turned in a season-leading 5-for-6/three-run game against Prairie View A&M (Texas) early in the season. The senior first baseman from San Antonio had just three errors this season, from one of the most difficult positions on the field. He took out 353-of-375 runners and added 20 assists and an NAIA-best 41 double plays.
 
Senior catcher Diego Zuniga from McAllen, Texas, has played all four years with the Saints. This season, he has put out an astounding 139-of-139 runners in 20 games and has had a 1.000 fielding percentage in 31 of 34 games. The First-Team recipient had his best performance against John Melvin, when he put out 15-of-16 players earlier in the year.
 
OLLU consistently placed among the top 10 teams in the NAIA in pitching, posting a 4.03 ERA. The staff was led by four-year starter and Second-Team recipient Donovan Gamez from San Antonio. He was 8-5 on the season with five complete games for a 4.06 ERA. Gamez had the most strikeouts with 83, and newcomer and First-Teamer Noah Ferraro, a junior transfer from League City, Texas, led the Saints with an 8-2 record. Starter Omar Rodriguez, a native of Eagle Pass, marked a 5-2 record. Third-year junior Christian Perez from Palmview, Texas, saved a remarkable six games, while striking out 24 in 18.1 innings pitched. The staff shut out six teams, while giving the offense the opportunity to score 62 runs in those games.
 
Opening Round Details 
 
Visit here for details about the tournament, including a visitors' guide, opening-round schedule, World Series schedule, brackets, program, links to all games to watch and follow live stats, and much more.