Bengals advance to National Championship game with Friday night win
Box Score
The LSU Eunice baseball team is once again heading back to the NJCAA Division II World Series Championship game, defeating Madison College 8-0 in seven innings on Friday night to advance to play for the title.
The Bengals will now face off against Murray State College Saturday night at 7 p.m. for the championship.
“Our guys were loose and ready to play. When our group of guys play loose and they have fun and have smiles on their face and stay positive, we can be very scary,” head coach Jeff Willis said.
“You would have never known the season was on the line,” Willis added.
Against Madison Friday night, the Bengals (52-9) flipped the script from the two teams’ game on Thursday, which Madison won 8-2 to set up the rematch.
Friday, LSU Eunice plated two runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, as they scored at least one run in five of the six innings they hit, including a three-run fourth inning.
The Bengals collected 10 total hits and drew seven walks against four different Madison (43-13) pitchers, including batting around during the three-run fourth and connecting on three solo homers.
Buddy McCoy again led the way at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a walk for the second consecutive night against Madison. McCoy, who added a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the third inning tonight, finished the two games against Madison 6-for-6 and is 8-for-9 over the last three games.
Landon Thibodeaux collected two hits, including an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning, while Casey Rodrigue and Evan Powell each notched solo homers for their lone hits on the night.
Stefan Trosclair (double), Garrett Deschamp and Derek Herrington all added a hit as well.
Brady Domangue earned his 14th win of the season with the seven inning complete game shutout, allowing six hits and striking out eight Madison batters.
With his totals Friday night, Domangue becomes the new LSU Eunice single-season record holder with 118 strikeouts, while his 114.0 total innings pitched this season are the second-most in a single season and his 1.34 ERA will go down as the new single season record pending tomorrow night’s game.
The Bengals plated two runs in the opening inning when Adam Angelle (0-2, 2 BB) walked, stole second base before advancing to third on a wild pitch and seeing the throw sail into left field to trot home with the first run. Trosclair later doubled into left-center field and scored on McCoy’s RBI single.
In the second and third innings, the Bengals saw their leadoff batters connect for solo homers, with Powell’s shot in the second and McCoy’s homer beginning the third inning.
LSU Eunice batted around in the fourth inning, seeing a solo homer from Rodrigue, RBI single from McCoy and RBI double from Thibodeaux bring in the inning’s runs.
The final run of the night came in the sixth when Powell drew a bases loaded, two out walk to bring the game to its final score.
“Murray State has played tremendous this tournament and they are hot right now. I think it will be a tremendous challenge for us tomorrow night but I think our guys are up for the challenge,” Willis said.
Tomorrow’s NJCAA Division II National Championship game can be seen for free on NJCAA TV and heard over the airwaves on KVPI 92.5 FM.
