EUNICE, La. – After sitting out last week with an injury, Andrew Sheridan (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) picked up right where he left off after an undefeated freshman campaign.  The Sulphur HS product delivered five shutout innings as No. 1 LSU Eunice upended Paris JC, 9-2, in the weekend series opener at Bengal Stadium.
 
Sheridan (1-0) allowed just one batter to reach third base as the sophomore put down the Dragons in order three times.  LSUE would get out of the jam in the fifth inning on a fake throw on a steal attempt at second base, throwing out a Paris baserunner in a rundown at third.
 
For the night, Sheridan would scatter five hits while striking out five batters and allowing just one walk.  Jerry Couch (Bossier City, LA, Airline HS) would provide four innings of relief, striking out seven Dragon batters.
 
LSUE used small ball early to take the lead in the fourth inning.  After a leadoff single by Evan Keller (Destrehan, LA, Destrehan HS), Slate Fuller (Lake Charles, LA, Barbe HS) would eventually drive in Keller on a sacrifice groundout to second base.  An inning later, Jack Merrifield (Prairieville, LA, Dutchtown HS) would sacrifice home Austin Kirkpatrick (Breaux Bridge, LA, Teurlings Catholic HS) to give the Bengals a 2-0 lead.
 
The Bengal bats came alive in the sixth inning as LSUE led off the inning with five consecutive singles to push their lead to 4-0 after RBIs from Brooks Rushworth (Sterlington, LA, Sterlington HS) and Kirkpatrick.  Javier Vaz (Huntsville, AL, Huntsville HS) would close out a seven-run inning with a two-run suicide squeeze with Tristan Welch (Baton Rouge, LA, Catholic-Baton Rouge HS) and Merrifield coming home.
 
Keller led the LSUE offense with two hits while Vaz and Merrifield were both responsible for two RBIs.
 
Paris scored its runs on a two-out triple in the ninth inning.
 
LSUE returns home tomorrow to face Paris JC with a 6:00PM start time.  Bengal All-Access will have a live video stream while the Bayou Sports Network with Randy Guillory will have an online audio feed.
 
Fans can also follow the baseball team's Twitter (@LSUEBengalsBSB), Facebook (@LSUEBaseball) and Instagram (@LSUEBengals) accounts.