Box score

        NEW ORLEANS — Deionte Norris homered in the second inning and earned a four-pitch save in the ninth to help Xavier University of Louisiana defeat Our Lady of the Lake 2-1 Friday in the opener of a three-game Red River Athletic Conference baseball series at Wesley Barrow Stadium.
        The Gold Rush (16-17 overall, 12-12 RRAC) and the Saints (21-20, 14-10) will meet in a noon Saturday doubleheader at Barrow.
        XULA never lost its lead after Norris hit a bases-empty, one-out homer. Norris earned the save by getting the only batter he faced, Francisco Martinez, to hit into a game-ending double play with runners on first and second base. Martinez grounded to Matt Muhleisen, who stepped on third base and then threw to Dillon Cousin at first for the final out.
        For the second straight start, XULA left-handed pitcher Blair Frederick allowed one run in seven innings and earned a victory. Frederick threw 130 pitches, allowed two hits, walked seven, hit a batter and struck out seven. Norris, who started at second base, was the third XULA reliever. Ryan Kinney, who relieved Frederick, got out of a bases-loaded jam by starting a pitcher-to-catcher-to-first-base double play to end the eighth inning.
        Mark Herron singled home Co Co Simoneaux in the third inning for XULA's other run. Jacob Mitchell's seventh-inning sacrifice fly scored Christian Martinez, who led off with a double, for OLLU's run.
        Norris said it was his first time in 15 years of baseball to hit a home run and earn a save in the same game. "I just go up there and throw strikes," Norris said of his relief work, "and I trust the defense."
        And when Muhleisen snared Martinez's grounder, "I knew the game was over," Norris said. "I knew he was going to turn two."
        OLLU stranded 12 runners — three in the second inning and two apiece in the seventh and eighth.
        "It was a hard-fought game," XULA head coach Adrian Holloway said. "A really good game start to finish. It was very intense . . . a heart-stopper."
        Simoneaux, XULA's leadoff batter and center fielder, reached base safely 4-of-4 times: two singles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Herron had two hits and a walk.
        "It was a great team win," Frederick said. "The defense made a lot of great plays to back up the pitchers."
        The victory was XULA's fifth in its last six conference games.