Bengals come up short; fall to Murray State in National Championship
Box Score
The LSU Eunice baseball team’s quest for the first back-to-back NJCAA National Championships fell just short Saturday night, as the Bengals fell 4-3 to Murray State College in the championship game.
The Bengals wrap up the 2013 season with a 52-10 record and their first National Runners-Up finish in program history. They previously had two third place finishes in the World Series along with their four National Championships.
“It was a tremendous game. You had two teams play outstanding baseball tonight and we just came out on the short end. We ran out of innings tonight,” head coach Jeff Willis said.
“Hats off to Murray State the way they played tonight. Their starting pitcher was good tonight and defensively they made clutch plays,” Willis added.
“I’m proud of our guys and the way they competed. Our guys have nothing to be ashamed of; there are a lot of people that would love to be in our situation right now. Hats off to our sophomores and what they brought to the table and everything they’ve been able to do for our program,” Willis finished.
On Saturday night, the Bengals struck first, using a RBI triple from Buddy McCoy to drive home Stefan Trosclair before McCoy scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.
But Murray State answered back, plating two runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning and running Bengal starter Chad Reeves from the game.
The Bengals responded, with Trosclair connecting for a two out, solo homer in the top of the third inning to give LSU Eunice what would become their final lead.
Murray State took the lead for good in the bottom of the third inning on a pair of RBI base hits as both teams were held scoreless over the final six innings.
Trosclair and Tyler Chapman (double) led the way at the plate for the Bengals with two hits each, while Casey Rodrigue, Derek Herrington and McCoy (triple) each notched one hit.
Reeves was saddled with the loss after not escaping the second inning, allowing two runs on one hit and three walks in 1.0 inning-plus. Trae Hester came on and tossed 5 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on six hits with two strikeouts and a walk before Merrick Ardoin threw a perfect final 1 1/3 innings.
The Bengals had different chances to knot up the score, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth inning before stranding Chapman in the sixth inning after his two-out double. Rodrigue was picked off in the seventh inning after singling as well.
The two final chances of the night came in the eighth and ninth innings, when Trosclair flew out to deep left field to open the eighth and Chapman flew out to the warning track for the second out of the ninth inning.
