Bengals grab neutral site victory on Monday night
Box Score The LSU Eunice baseball team began a long week of games with a Monday night neutral site contest against Wharton County Junior College, coming away with a 9-1 victory in a game played at McNeese State University.
The Bengals (28-7) tallied 10 hits on the night, while LSU Eunice pitchers stranded 14 Wharton County (15-26) runners on the base paths.
Starter Hayden Marze notched his first collegiate win, improving to 1-1 on the season after tossing six innings and allowing five hits and one run while walking five batters and recording 10 strikeouts.
"I thought our pitching staff, especially Hayden, was able to make some really big pitches when we needed it and our guys were able to make some big plays behind them," head coach Jeff Willis said.
Marze left two runners stranded during the first, fifth and sixth innings, while Bengal relievers Zach Hamilton (1 inning, 1 walk), O.J. Latin (1 inning, 1 walk, 1 strikeout) and Jevin Huval (1 inning, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout) left two Wharton County runners stranded in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames in the win.
Offensively, the Bengals saw Stefan Trosclair and Mason Nickens each finish 2-for-4 at the plate, with Trosclair collecting two RBIs on a double and triple and Nickens notching a two-run homer. Jordan Romero (2-3) and Derek Herrington (2-2, 2 walks) also finished with two hits, as Herrington tallied two RBIs and a triple as well.
LSU Eunice got the scoring started in the third when Romero opened the inning with a leadoff single before scoring on Herrington's RBI triple. Herrington trotted home moments later on an RBI groundout by Brennan Bozeman (1-5).
An inning later in the fourth, Trosclair led off the frame with a triple and scored on a passed ball before Nickens connected on his two-run homer into right field.
The game remained that way until the eighth, when the Bengals notched four hits in the inning to plate four runs, scoring the first two via Wharton County wild pitches and the final two runs of the night on a two-run double down the left field line by Trosclair.
LSU Eunice returns to action on the road Wednesday night, when they travel to take on Baton Rouge Community College in a 6 p.m. contest.
Wednesday night's game can be heard on KVPI 92.5 FM.
