POPLARVILLE, Miss. – For a second straight night, LSU Eunice held the Pearl River offense at bay as the Bengals sunk the Wildcats 5-2 on Thursday at Dub Herring Park in the Region 23 Baseball Tournament. The Bengals (45-5) will head to their 13th Regional Championship game appearance and face East Central CC on Friday at 3:00PM.
The LSUE pitching staff limited the Wildcats to just two hits, a season low.
Despite the success against the Pearl River offense, it would be PRCC who struck first in the ballgame. The Wildcats would capitalize on an error and a walk and sacrificing a run in.
The Bengals would respond with authority, loading the bases before
Jarrett McDonald (Sterlington, LA, Sterlington HS) gave LSUE the lead for good with a two-run single.
Scott Jones (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) and
Thomas Stevens (Crowley, LA, Notre Dame HS) would produce back-to-back run scoring at-bats to push the LSUE lead to 4-1. LSUE chased Pearl River's starting pitcher after 0.2 innnings.
The back and forth continued in the second inning as PRCC would score its final run of the game off one of three LSUE errors. The Bengals clawed their final run in the bottom half as
Jack Merrifield (Prairieville, LA, Dutchtown HS) drove in
Brady Hebert (Baton Rouge, LA, Catholic-Baton Rouge HS).
From there, it was a pitching duel as the two sides combined for 21 strikeouts.
Dalton Burrell (Bossier City, LA, Airline HS) turned in his best performance of the season, stretching to the fifth inning while allowing just one hit and four walks. Burrell (4-0) struck out four batters and sat down the side in order in his final frame.
LSUE would pass the baton on the hill as
Dylan Beier (Lake Charles, LA, Barbe HS),
Noah Beason (Lufkin, TX, Huntington HS),
Miles Clack (Katy, TX, Seven Lake HS) and
Jacob Hammond (Monroe, LA, Ouachita HS) held PRCC to just one hit and a walk in the final four frames. The Wildcats would have one big scoring opportunity in the seventh inning, but was squashed as Clack induced an inning ending double play.
Hammond grabbed his third save of the Region Tournament after tossing a perfect ninth with a strikeout.
As the lone undefeated team in the Region 23 Tournament, LSU Eunice will serve as the home team against the Warriors. The winner of the double elimination tournament will represent the Gulf District in the upcoming NJCAA Division II World Series.
