ROWLEY, La. – LSU Eunice Baseball roared out of the gate and never looked back, taking down Delgado CC 6-3 on Friday at Historic Miller Stadium in Crowley. It was the opening game in a pivotal three-game series featuring the only two nationally ranked clubs in the state of Louisiana.
The No. 1 Bengals (37-0) took control of the game in the opening frame as the meat of the LSUE lineup would provide the spark.
Parker Coley (Sterlington, LA, Sterlington HS) tattooed the first pitch he saw, slamming his team's best eighth home run of the season. The two out rally would continue as
Zachary Thomas (Jesup, GA, Wayne County HS) reached safely on one of three Dolphins errors.
Korey Cooper (Dickinson, TX, Dickinson HS) would make Delgado pay as he would leave the yard a batter later, with his two run long ball giving LSUE a quick 3-0 lead.
The Dolphins responded with a solo home run of their own in the second inning to trim the LSUE advantage. That DCC run would be all
Connor Benge (Montgomery, TX, Montgomery HS) would allow the Dolphins. The freshman limited the Dolphins to five more base runners the remainder of his 6.1 inning outing. Benge improved to 8-0 on the season, giving up two earned runs while sprinkling five hits and two walks. The freshman would strike out four batters.
The Bengals offense gave more padding in the third inning as Korey Cooper continued his recent tear. Cooper unleashed his second home run of the day, a two-run opposite field smash to push the LSUE lead to 5-1.
It would stay that score until the latter innings as the two sides would swap runs. Delgado tried to inch closer with a RBI triple in the seventh, only to be matched by
Alexander Saunier's (Lafayette, LA, Lafayette HS) RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to score
Dawson Willis (Ruston, LA, Ruston HS). The Dolphins closed the scoring in the eighth with a solo home run.
The relief duo of
Blake Lobell (Holden, LA, Springfield HS) and
Jacob Moore (Lacombe, LA, Lakeshore HS) minimized the Dolphins' damage as Lobell pitched 1.2 innings out of the bullpen, giving up one earned run off two hits while striking out four batters.
Jacob Moore picked up his second save of the season pitching a scoreless ninth, working around one hit with a strikeout.
Cooper and Coley were the only Bengals with multi-hit games as they were responsible for driving in five of the team's six runs.
The series shifts back to Eunice on Saturday for a doubleheader scheduled for 2:00PM.
