The Louisiana Knights 17/18s turned in their best performance of the summer going 3-2, making it to Sunday’s championship game of the Louisiana World Series held in Abbeville.

The Knights 17/18s came up short in the championship tilt falling to the Louisiana Legends 6-1 at Sellers Field. The Legends pushed across three runs in the first inning and added three more in the second en-route to the victory.

Michael Paul produced the Knights’ lone run with a solo homer in the fourth inning as the Knights collected seven hits. Randal Meyer, Jacob Trapani and Justin Viger all went 2-3 for the Knights in the championship game. Knights’ starter Matt Lipham (0-1) ran into trouble in the first inning. Justin Vaughn replaced Lipham and tossed the final five-plus innings.

Knights’ assistant coach Jason Lachica said the team met before the tournament and wanted to rewrite the season beginning in the Louisiana World Series.

“We are an improved baseball team. We played with more intensity and executed better,” Lachica said.

The Knights 17/18s (8-17) have played competitive baseball for most of the summer, being hard luck losers coming up on the short end of six one-run losses, having lost four of those games in succession. The Knights have lost three other games by just two runs.

In last Wednesday’s opener, the Knights fell to the Louisiana Legends 7-6. Paul topped the Knights with three runs batted in and scored a run. Michael Pustanio had a hit and drove in two runs, while Robert Boudreaux knocked in a run. Starter Hunter Ham went five innings, giving up four earned runs on four hits. Reliever Elisha Settoon (0-1) went two innings and was tagged with the loss. He gave up one earned run on two hits.

In Thursday’s game, starter Randy LeBlanc (2-2) pitched a complete-game, three-hit gem leading the Knights 17/18s to a 2-0 victory over Bullet Baseball with Trey Marino going 2-2 with two runs batted in and Pustanio, who went 2-3. With one out in the sixth inning, Logan Peterson drew a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Seth Laigast, who advanced to second when Vaughn reached on a Bullet error. Marino then ripped a double down the first base line, scoring both Peterson and Laigast to propel the Knights to victory.

LeBlanc faced 29 batters, throwing 113 pitches, while lowering his earned run average to 2.77. He registered nine strikeouts with two walks and hit a batter. He has posted 24 strikeouts in 30 and a third innings of work.

In Friday’s game, the Knights made the most of four hits, easing by the Gametime Angels 6-2. Pustanio led the way with a double and three runs batted in. Paul went 2-3 and scored a run. Laigast drove in a run and scored once, while Viger collected a triple. Meyer (1-1) started and went four and two-third innings to record the victory. He didn’t allow any earned runs, while giving up three hits. Reliever Robert Boudreaux gave up just one hit in his two and a third innings of work.

The Knights blanked Marucci Elite 17s, 10-0 Saturday behind Peterson’s two-hit shutout. Peterson (4-1) with a 1.48 earned run average was efficient, throwing 58 pitches to record the six-inning victory.

He posted two strikeouts with one walk. Viger was the hitting star, going 2-4 with four runs batted in. Paul drove home two runs, while Pustanio drove in a run and scored twice. Vaughn and Keller Douglas were each credited with one run batted in. Laigast had a hit for the Knights and scored three times. He tops the Knights with 14 runs scored. Lipham and Brady King had one hit each and scored a run.

The Knights were aggressive on the bases, stealing six bases in six attempts.