Maybe it was when the winning streak reached double digits. It could have been when it climbed over 20. By the time it reached 30, it was certainly time to check the record books.

Whenever it was, at some point LSU Shreveport’s baseball team started chasing history as much or more than an elusive national championship until both goals intersected again.

LSU Shreveport has a 54-0 record — almost a statistical impossibility in a sport as chaotically random as baseball — as they begin the NAIA World Series Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Grand View (Iowa).

“It just feels real good. We just feel blessed,” said LSU Shreveport second baseman Vantrel Reed, a Vicksburg native and former Warren Central star. “We feel like it’s perfect timing because we’ve been good since I stepped on campus, but this year is perfect timing. We’re going to keep going day by day.”

Reed is in his third season as the Pilots’ starting second baseman and he’s been a key contributor to this undefeated season.

Reed is batting .401 with five home runs, 59 RBIs and 59 runs scored. The first-team All-Red River Athletic Conference selection had a hit in 38 of the 48 games he’s played. He had a 19-game hitting streak snapped in the regional final win over Mid-America Christian.

Over his three seasons at LSU Shreveport, Reed has a .386 career batting average.

“I feel like I’m playing really well. Just staying confident and getting better each day,” he said.

Reed spent his first season at Hinds Community College, then transferred to LSU Shreveport in part because of how successful the program was.

The Pilots were coming off back-to-back NAIA World Series appearances when Reed got to campus in the fall of 2022. This is the first time he’ll play in one, however. They were knocked out in the regional round each of the last two seasons despite posting records of 44-11 and 47-10.

“When I first set foot on campus it was the goal to make it to the World Series and win it. My third year, now we’re finally here. It’s perfect timing,” Reed said.

Timing isn’t the only perfect thing about LSU Shreveport’s 2025 season. It set a record for most consecutive wins by a four-year college program when it beat Jarvis Christian on April 26. It needs four wins at the World Series to pass Howard College, a two-year junior college, for the longest winning streak by any college baseball team.

Only seven of the Pilots’ 54 victories have been by one or two runs. They set a school record for runs in a 42-4 rout of Texas College on March 30.

Getting the all-time consecutive wins record would also put LSU Shreveport in the national championship game of the double-elimination NAIA World Series, in an interesting quirk of fate. That means the Pilots have reached the all or nothing stage of their historic season — championship, record and undefeated season, or bust — but Reed said he and his teammates are just going about their business and letting the rest take care of itself.

“We just stay consistent and get better each day, and be ready. Take it day by day. We just go out, do our job as individuals, and we should come out on top every time,” Reed said. “It’s no pressure. It’s still the game of baseball. If we come out and do all the things day by day and do our job we should be fine.”