POPLARVILLE, Miss. – It had all the drama fitting of a game between top of the top teams in the nation. LSU Eunice and Pearl River traded blows throughout the night, with the Bengals walking out of a late night at Dub Herring Park with an 8-6 victory in the Region 23 Baseball Tournament.
The winner's bracket game did not start until past 10:00PM local time and finished well past 1:00AM.
The Bengals roared out to an early 5-0 lead, capitalizing on three walks and two hit by pitches. LSUE would load the bases with one out, scoring the first run on a
Bryce LaRocca (Lake Charles, LA, Barbe HS) walk.
Peyton LeJeune (Church Point, LA, Teurlings Catholic HS) would send the LSUE dugout into a frenzy two batters later with a two-out, bases clearing single to push the Bengals up 4-0.
The Wildcats responded in a hurry with four runs in the third inning including a pair of home runs. The long balls were the only sour note on an otherwise sterling effort from starting pitcher
Luke McGibboney (Gonzales, LA, Catholic-Baton Rouge HS). The freshman, making his first start and appearance since April 12, held down one of the top offenses in the nation in 4.1 innings. McGibboney scattered four runs off four hits and a walk while striking out two batters.
After PRCC claw back to within 5-4 with the long ball, the Bengals used small ball to squash the Wildcat momentum. After LeJeune drove in LaRocca with a single up the middle,
Hunter Tabb (Scott, LA, Acadiana HS) would pull off a patented double squeeze to push the Bengals' edge to 8-4.
Tabb paced the Bengals in RBIs for a second straight game, bringing in three runs. LeJeune joined
Scott Jones (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) with a multi-hit game.
The back half of the game was dominated by the LSUE bullpen.
Miles Clack (Katy, TX, Seven Lake HS),
Brendan Moody (Iowa, LA, Iowa HS) and
Austin Andrishok (Baton Rouge, LA, Catholic-Baton Rouge HS) would help LSUE take an 8-5 lead into the ninth. Clack (1-0) earned his first win of the season after motoring through the heart of the PRCC lineup, going 1.2 frames with three punch outs.
Jacob Hammond (Monroe, LA, Ouachita HS) grabbed his sixth save of the campaign after working out of traffic. Hammond issued a pair of walks and a double as a wild pitch allowed PRCC to score its final run of the game. The sophomore induced a fly ball with the go-ahead run at the plate to secure the victory.
East Central's victory over Meridian early in the day has moved to an alternative scenario because of five teams still alive in double elimination play. The Bengals play at 7:00PM on Thursday and await between Pearl River and Meridian's elimination contest. Hinds and East Central play the other scheduled game on Thursday at 3:30PM.
