EUNICE, La. - LSU Eunice begins its postseason quest this Wednesday, May 15 against Northwest Mississippi CC in the opening round of the Region 23 Tournament. The six-team, double-elimination tournament is being held on the campus of the MACJC Regular Season Champion, Itawamba from May 15-19.
The Bengals and Rangers will open up the Region 23 Tournament with a 12:00PM start time from Roy Cresap Field. All games of the Region 23 Tournament can be seen live on Itawamba's video feed at LetsGoICC.com. Itawamba, Jones, Pearl River and Mississippi Gulf Coast complete the six-team field.
The winner of the tournament will earn a trip to the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Oklahoma as the South District representative.
The trip to Itawamba CC will be LSUE's second ever to Fulton for postseason play. The Bengals won the 2006 Region 23 Tournament at ICC, on the way to the program's first ever National Championship.
LSU Eunice will meet Northwest Mississippi CC after the Rangers defeated Northeast Mississippi CC in their MACJC best-of-three series this past weekend. The Rangers advanced after a 9-1 victory over the rival Tigers on Sunday, May 12. This will be Northwest's fifth Region 23 appearance in the last seven years.
Northwest Mississippi enters the Region 23 Tournament with one of the more potent power lineups in the nation, ranked 12th in NJCAA Division in home runs (50). Ben Van Cleve leads the offensive charge with a team's best 12 home runs and a .367 batting average.
The Rangers also feature a stout frontline on the mound with the freshman pair of RHP Parker Stinnett (7-3, 2.74 ERA) and LHP Dalton Fowler (6-2, 3.23 ERA).
LSUE heads to postseason play fresh off one of the most successful regular seasons in program history. The Bengals (48-6) went wire-to-wire as the ranked number one in the NJCAA polls and the team's 48 wins were the fourth most in LSUE regular season history.
The Bengals have been paced by their pitching staff featuring the best statistical team ERA in NJCAA Division II (2.56).
Dane Dixon (Walker, LA, Walker HS) (12-0, 1.91 ERA) and
Andrew Sheridan (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) (12-1, 1.66 ERA) are tied for the national lead with 12 wins each this season.
Offensively, LSUE is led by the sophomore duo of
Evan Keller (Destrehan, LA, Destrehan HS) and
Tristan Welch (Baton Rouge, LA, Catholic-Baton Rouge HS). The pair lead the Bengals in virtually every offensive statistical category with Keller's 43 stolen bases ranked fifth nationally and Welch's 68 RBIs ranked fourth.
This will be the two teams' ninth all-time meeting with LSU Eunice holding a 7-1 advantage in the series. The Bengals and Rangers last met in the 2017 Region 23 Tournament with LSUE taking an 8-4 decision.
Fans can also follow the baseball team's Twitter (@LSUEBengalsBSB), Facebook (@LSUEBaseball) and Instagram (@LSUEBengals) accounts.
2019 NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament
May 15-19, 2019 | Itawamba CC | Roy Cresap Field
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15
GAME 1 NO. 3 LSU EUNICE (48-6) VS. NO. 4 NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI (33-12) 12:00PM
GAME 2 NO. 2 JONES (37-10) VS. NO. 5 PEARL RIVER (36-12) 3:30PM
GAME 3 NO. 1 ITAWAMBA (39-6-1) VS. NO. 6 MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST (28-16) 7:00PM
THURSDAY, MAY 16
GAME 4 GAME 3 LOSER VS. GAME 2 LOSER 12:00PM
GAME 5 GAME 2 WINNER VS. GAME 1 LOSER 3:30PM
GAME 6 GAME 1 WINNER VS. GAME 3 WINNER 7:00PM
FRIDAY, MAY 17
GAME 7 GAME 4 WINNER VS. GAME 6 LOSER 12:00PM
GAME 8 GAME 5 WINNER VS. GAME 6 WINNER 3:30PM
GAME 9 GAME 7 WINNER VS. GAME 8 LOSER 7:00PM
SATURDAY, MAY 18
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
GAME 10 GAME 8 WINNER VS. GAME 9 WINNER 3:00PM
SUNDAY, MAY 19
IF NECESSARY GAME
GAME 11 GAME 10 WINNER VS. GAME 10 LOSER 1:00PM
SCHEDULE MAY CHANGE AFTER GAMES 6 AND 9 DEPENDENT ON AMOUNT OF 1-LOSS TEAMS STILL IN TOURNAMENT
CHECK LSUEBENGALS.NET FOR THE LATEST SCHEDULES AND TIMES
WINNER ADVANCES TO THE 2019 NJCAA DIVISION II NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AS THE SOUTH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE
