Bengals' big sixth inning sparks six-run rally and Saturday night win
Box Score The LSU Eunice baseball team plated six runs in the sixth inning to pull even with Galveston College Saturday night before scoring the eventual winning run in the eighth to come away with a 9-8 victory in the second game of the three game series.
Trailing 8-2 heading into the sixth, the Bengals (8-0) sent 12 men to the plate in the six-run inning, using two hits, a Galveston error, a hit batter and five walks to tie the game before Tyler Chapman laid down a two-out drag bunt to score the tying run before doing the same thing two innings later in the eighth when his two-out bunt base hit plated the winning run.
"I'm proud of our guys. They battled, and down 8-2 they were able to string together a really good inning in the bottom of the sixth. We sent a lot of guys to the plate and had a lot of pressurized at-bats where guys went up there and had really good at-bats. When you are able to string together that many good at-bats in a row, you all the sudden put up a crooked number," head coach Jeff Willis said.
"As long as you have an out left on the board you always have a chance to win a ballgame."
Galveston (5-4) led from the start, plating four runs in the top of the first inning and adding another run in the third inning before the Bengals got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Galveston then scored three more runs in the top of the sixth inning to give themselves the six-run lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.
In that sixth inning, the first five Bengals to come to the plate all reached base via a walk, hit by pitch or error before each came around to score. Gabe Roberts collected an RBI single in the inning, while Kyle St. Pierre drew one of the five walks in the frame to pick up an RBI. Two additional runs scored on a Galveston throwing error and another on a wild pitch before Chapman laid down his run-scoring bunt to tie the game.
The eighth inning saw the Bengals put runners at second and third with two outs before Chapman dropped the first pitch he saw in the at-bat in almost the same spot down the third baseline to score Stefan Trosclair with the eventual winning run.
Chapman and Roberts each finished with two hits, while Trosclair and St. Pierre each tallied a hit and an RBI. Derek Herrington, Mason Nickens (BB, run scored), Ray Veit (BB, run scored) and Brennan Bozeman (double, two runs scored) each tallied a hit as well. Madison Nickens (0-3) also collected an RBI.
Ryan Domingue, the fourth of five Bengal pitchers used, allowed one hit in his one inning of work to pick up the win. Sam Walley earned the save after working around a hit batsman and a walk to open the ninth, stranding the tying and go-ahead runners at second and third to end the night.
LSU Eunice and Galveston wrap up their weekend series tomorrow afternoon with a 1 p.m. first pitch. Tomorrow's game can be seen on Bengal All-Access and heard on KVPI 1050 AM.
