Bengals shut out Heartland, advance to play Thursday night
Box Score
The LSU Eunice baseball team pushed further into the NJCAA Division II World Series on Thursday afternoon, defeating Heartland Community College 8-0 in seven innings to advance to play later Thursday night at 7 p.m. against Madison College.
A grand slam by Garrett Deschamp on a full count pitch with two outs in the bottom of the third inning gave the Bengals (51-8) more than enough runs for the arm of left-hander Zac Person, who allowed only two hits while striking out seven batters in the complete game win.
“Zac was phenomenal. He went out and made some big pitches when he needed to, and just completed his rear off,” head coach Jeff Willis said.
“Garrett’s big grand slam really broke it open in that situation and took some pressure off our hitters,” Willis said.
Person allowed hits to the first two Heartland batters, but was in control after that, using two pickoffs to erase runners as well.
After their big third inning, the Bengals added three runs in the fourth before a final run in the sixth inning to bring the game to its final score.
Buddy McCoy was the only Bengal to record two hits, while Adam Angelle, Evan Powell, Derek Herrington and Deschamp each finished with one hit.
Casey Rodrigue and Stefan Trosclair each added an RBI as well.
The action in the third inning all came after two quick outs, with Trosclair walking, McCoy connecting on a single and Landon Thibodeaux getting hit by pitch before Deschamp’s shot down the left field line for the lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, LSU Eunice used three hits and a Heartland error to plate their three runs. Rodrigue’s sacrifice fly plated Powell, who opened the inning with a single, to score the first run before a balk allowed the second run of the inning to trot home. The final run of the inning came when Angelle took off for third on a stolen base and kept on going, sliding in safely at home after a Heartland wild pitch.
The final run came in the sixth when Rodrigue was hit by a pitch, stole second and third base and scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Trosclair.
The Bengals are now the only remaining undefeated team left in Enid, and will take on Madison tonight at approximately 7 p.m.
“It’s going to be a long day. Our guys are going to compete and show up. It feels good to get this one right now, and I know our guys will be ready to play tonight,” Willis said.
Tonight’s game can be seen for free on NJCAA TV and heard over the airwaves on KVPI 92.5 FM.
Information will also continue to be available via the LSU Eunice Athletics Twitter page, including exact game starting times, in-game score updates and more.
