Bengals take afternoon game of day-night doubleheader
Box Score The LSU Eunice baseball team grabbed a tight, 6-5 victory over North Central Texas College in the second game of the team's series and first game of the day on Saturday afternoon.
The teams square off at 7 p.m. tonight in the series finale in the second half of the day-night doubleheader.
The Bengals (10-1) plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a lead they would not surrender, despite North Central Texas (8-5) cutting the lead to one in the final inning.
Overall, LSU Eunice saw five players notch six hits, with freshman Brennan Bozeman the only Bengal to record two hits while also adding an RBI.
"It was a close ballgame. I'm really proud of our guys, after North Central scored the four runs in the top of the fifth, to come back and score three runs of our own and get the momentum back in our dugout," head coach Jeff Willis said.
"(Tonight's) an opportunity to treat it like a situation we could be in later in the year. Also a split doubleheader makes it feel like two separate games and not necessarily a doubleheader."
Derek Herrington (1-1, 3 walks, 2 runs) and Tyler Chapman (1-4) each collected RBI doubles, while freshman Jordan Romero (1-3, run) notched a double with his first collegiate hit.
Freshman Ralphie McDonald (1-3, run) also added a hit, while sophomores Stefan Trosclair (0-3) and Kyle St. Pierre (0-2, walk, run) each tallied an RBI.
Freshman Nick Hartman improved to 2-0 on the season with the win, tossing six complete innings and allowing just four runs (three earned) on four hits while walking two batters and striking out six.
O.J. Latin threw two innings of scoreless relief, allowing a hit, a walk and striking out one before turning the ball over to Sam Walley (1 inning, two hits, 1 run) to finish up the ninth inning.
Trailing by two heading into the ninth, North Central Texas opened the inning with back-to-back singles before double stealing to put runners at second and third with no outs. A Bengal error cut the lead to one before Walley forced a pop up for the first out of the inning, picked off a runner at second base and ended the afternoon with a pop up to close the game out.
LSU Eunice jumped on the board in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI single from Bozeman and a run-scoring groundout from Trosclair. They added two the lead with Chapman's RBI double down the left field line in the fourth inning.
North Central Texas plated four runs in the top of the fifth inning off of a Bengal error, a wild pitch from Hartman and a single before the Bengals took the lead back with four runs in the bottom of the frame.
Romero opened the inning with a leadoff double into left-center field before scoring on Herrington's RBI double down the left field line. Bozeman's groundout and St. Pierre's sacrifice fly gave the Bengals the lead they would not give back.
Tonight's game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. first pitch and can be seen on Bengal All-Access.
