STERLINGTON — First Houston-Victoria and then LSU Alexandria earned one-run victories over second-ranked LSU Shreveport on Monday to punch their tickets to today’s Red River Athletic Conference baseball championship game.

The teams will meet today at 1 p.m. at Sterlington Sports Complex with No. 6 UHV (3-0 in the tournament) needing to win one game for the title and No. 4 LSUA (3-1) hoping to force a second championship game at 5 p.m. The Generals also had to play two games Monday, defeating second-seeded Louisiana Christian in an elimination game before battling with the Pilots.

UHV will be making its first championship game appearance. LSUA won the tournament in 2018 and last year.

Here’s how the Generals’ games played out Monday:

No. 4 LSU Alexandria 8, No. 1 LSU Shreveport 7

LSUA’s path to victory was a back-and-forth tussle that came down to crucial outs late in the game. The Generals built a 2-0 lead in the first inning and scored twice more in the third inning on run-scoring singles from Cameron Daigle and Jordan Ardoin to regain the lead at 4-3.

The Pilots reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh inning. However, LSUA had the answer again in the bottom half of that inning with a three-run homer from Julien Kliebert and a sacrifice fly from Ardoin in the eighth. LSUS made another push in the ninth inning with a solo shot from Miguel Vega before loading the bases for the second straight inning. LSUA relief pitcher Blaise Foote escaped by getting LSUS star Ryan Major to hit into a double play to end the game.

LSUS outhit the Generals, 14-9, but the Pilots left 14 runners on base.

No. 4 LSU Alexandria 13, No. 2 Louisiana Christian 0

LSUA’s Zach Mengarelli homered twice, and Foote connected for a round-tripper as the Generals routed LCU in  earlier elimination game Monday.