EUNICE, La. – LSU Eunice Baseball received a sterling effort on the mound from
Connor Benge (Montgomery, TX, Montgomery HS) as the Bengals quieted Southeastern CC 9-3 on Friday at Bengal Stadium. It was the first ever game between the Bengals (22-0) and Blackhawks, who both opted to play in Eunice after expected weather in the Millington, Tennessee area changed the teams' weekend tournament plans.
Southeastern would be first to strike, capitalizing on a two out error before a base hit would score a runner from third. That would be all the Blackhawks could get against Connor Benge, who would go on to strikeout the side in three of the next four innings. Benge would work in traffic in the third, inducing a fly ball to get out of a bases loaded jam.
Benge struck out 14 batters in six innings of work, giving up the one unearned run off four hits and two walks. The 14 strikeouts are the most by a LSU Eunice pitcher since Zach Hester against Brunswick CC in the opening game of the 2018 NJCAA Division II National Championship.
The trio of
Aiden Vosburg (Jarreau, LA, Catholic-Pointe Coupee HS),
Jacob Moore (Lacombe, LA, Lakeshore HS) and
Hunter Ponson (Baton Rouge, LA, Parkview Baptist HS) would finish off the game, each pitching an inning out of the bullpen.
Walker Bridges (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) would start and end the offensive scoring for LSUE on the night. Bridges laced an RBI double in the second and later score off an
Alexander Saunier (Lafayette, LA, Lafayette HS) double, part of a four-run second inning. The Sulphur HS product would then give three more insurance runs to Bengals in the eighth, coming through with a bases loaded line drive to score a pair and later hold a run down long enough to allow
Korey Cooper (Dickinson, TX, Dickinson HS) to score.
Bridges joined Cooper with a three-hit evening, driving in three runs and scoring once.
After the four run second inning, a bases loaded walk in the third and a
Zachary Thomas (Jesup, GA, Wayne County HS) RBI double pushed the LSUE lead to 6-1. The Blackhawks would bring home two runs in the seventh to get within striking distance.
