POPLARVILLE, Miss. – LSU Eunice nearly overcame a four-run hole in eighth inning but fell short 9-8 to East Central in the Region 23 Baseball Tournament on Friday at Deb Herring Park.  With the loss, the Bengals (45-6) will face off with the Warriors on Saturday in a "Winner Take All" contest on Saturday.
 
LSUE came out hot to start, using another early offensive spurt to jump out to a 3-1 advantage.  Following a first inning Jack Merrifield (Prairieville, LA, Dutchtown HS) sacrifice grounder, an East Central error and a Bryce LaRocca (Lake Charles, LA, Barbe HS) sacrifice gave the Bengals a 3-1 lead.
 
Noah Beason (Lufkin, TX, Huntington HS) helped LSUE stay in front with his best performance to date in a Bengal uniform.  Beason tossed a career long six innings, allowing six hits and two walks with three punch outs.  Hunter Tabb (Scott, LA, Acadiana HS) pushed LSUE ahead 4-1 with a RBI single to plate Peyton LeJeune (Church Point, LA, Teurlings Catholic HS) in the sixth.  Tabb was the lone Bengal to have a multi-hit game in LSUE's five-hit afternoon.
 
The wheels would fall off in the seventh, as East Central would plate back-to-back four run frames and take a 9-5 lead.  Brendan Moody (Iowa, LA, Iowa HS) (0-1) suffered the loss after giving up two earned runs in 0.1 innings pitched in the seventh.
 
The Bengals tried its best to mount a comeback, using three free passes to load the bases with no outs in the eighth.  Jarrett McDonald (Sterlington, LA, Sterlington HS) sacrificed in a run before Scott Jones clawed LSUE back to a one-run deficit with a two-run single.  ECCC would throw out Jones on a stolen base attempt at third to squash the threat.
 
LSUE would go down in order in the ninth inning to preserve the East Central win.
 
The Region 23 Championship game is set for 3:00PM on the campus of Pearl River CC.