LSU Comes From Behind to Beat SU
A resilient La Sierra squad—playing its third straight elimination game—mounted a come-from-behind 7-4 victory over California Pacific Conference regular season champion Simpson, keeping the Golden Eagles' postseason run alive and eliminating the Red Hawks from the North Star Athletic Association Championship tournament in Dickinson, ND. Trailing 4-2 going into the 8th inning, LSU, the seed #6 in the tournament, put up five runs to take a three-run lead over #4 SU, and reliever Nico Masucci was stellar over the final five innings to shut down SU.
LSU (21-19) advances to Sunday's do-or-die game against Dakota State (ND) at 11:00 am (PT), and if the Golden Eagles defeat DSU, the must-win grind continues as they get right back on the field to play a 2:00 pm semifinal game against Dickinson State (ND), the team that beat LSU 17-5 on Thursday. If the Golden Eagles win their second game of the day, they will be back out for a third time to play top-seeded Bellevue (Neb.) in the championship game in the evening, at a time to be determined.
The NSAA has two automatic bids to the NAIA Baseball National Tournament Opening Round, which will begin on May 12 at regional sites. Since Regular season champion Bellevue is the first qualifier, and the winner of the postseason tournament is the second. If BU wins the postseason tournament, the second automatic bid will go to the tournament runner-up—meaning whichever team reaches the title game against the Bruins, they will claim the second NSAA bid.
Coming into the game, LSU and SU had met seven times in 2025, with SU winning four of those game. Overall, SU held a 26-17 record against the Golden Eagles since they first played in 2017, but tonight's postseason elimination contest had the most on the line.
And Masucci excelled in the moment. He came into the game in the 5th inning with his team trailing 4-2, two runners aboard, and no outs. He promptly struck out the first two batters he faced and got out of the jam with a ground out. In his five innings on the mound, Masucci allowed just two hits, two walks, and fanned seven of the 18 batters he faced.
SU (21-28) put up two runs in the 1st and the 5th and seemed to be in control until the top of the 8th when LSU erupted for five runs. Ethan Gibbs started the rally with a double, and Gavin Copeland reached on an error. Stephen Chavez, who homered to lead off the off the 7th, put down a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position for Matthew Pontes. Pontes poked an RBI-single to left to plate one run, Colin Mitchell then reached on another SU error to bring in the second run. A wild pitch resulted in the third, and Bobby Benavidez capped the rally with a two-run single.
Gibbs and Pontes each had three hits for LSU, and Benavidez and Chavez each added two. For SU, Mario Catalan and Aden Munoz went 3-for-4, and Jaxon Hotta added two hits.
NSAA Baseball Championship Central
2025 NORTH STAR ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Hosted by Dickinson State | Dickinson, ND
(All times PT)
Thursday, May 1
Game 1: #1 Bellevue (Neb.) 9, #8 Valley City State (ND) 3
Game 2: #4 Simpson 9, #5 Dakota State (SD) 5
Game 3: #7 Mayville State (ND) 12, #2 Jamestown (ND) 11
Game 4: #3 Dickinson State (ND) 17, #6 La Sierra 5
Friday, May 2
Game 5: Dakota State (SD) 5, Valley City State (ND) 4
Game 6: La Sierra 4, Jamestown (ND) 3
Game 7: Bellevue (Neb.) 8, Simpson 3
Game 8: Dickinson State (ND) 7, Mayville State (ND) 6
Saturday, May 3
Game 10: Dakota State (SD) 16, Mayville State (ND) 6
Game 11: Bellevue (Neb.) 18, Dickinson State (ND) 2
Game 9: La Sierra 7, Simpson 4
Sunday, May 4
11:00 am - Game 12: La Sierra vs. Dakota State (ND) (loser eliminated)
2:00 pm - Game 13: Dickinson State (ND) vs. Winner Game 12 (Ioser eliminated)
TBA - Championship: Bellevue (Neb.) vs. Winner Game 13
Monday, May 5
TBA - Championship (if necessary)