EUNICE, La. – Never put a Bengal with their backs to the wall. At least that was the message sent on Thursday as LSU Eunice Baseball scored a 13-1 runaway win over East Central at Bengal Stadium in the Region 23 Tournament. The Bengals' (53-4) win forced the "if necessary" game on Friday at 3:00PM with the winner receiving an automatic berth to the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Oklahoma later this month.
After two scoreless innings to begin the afternoon game, LSU Eunice woke up its bats in impressive fashion.
Grant Mangrum (Sterlington, LA, Sterlington HS) began the frame with a line drive single, the Bengals' first hit of the game. After a
Dawson Willis (Ruston, LA, Ruston HS) walk,
Alexander Saunier (Lafayette, LA, Lafayette HS) bunted the pair over for
Zachary Thomas (Jesup, GA, Wayne County HS) to sacrifice in the first run of the game.
A few batters later,
Korey Cooper (Dickinson, TX, Dickinson HS) would provide the big hit to turn the tide in LSUE's favor as the sophomore tattooed a deep three-run home run that banged off the scoreboard in right center field. Cooper's sixth home run of the game gave LSUE a 4-0 advantage.
That was more than enough for
Blake Lobell (Holden, LA, Springfield HS) as the freshman turned in his best performance of the season. Lobell (6-0) tossed a season-high seven innings as he held East Central scoreless while giving up seven hits and one walk. He would add seven strikeouts to his stat line.
Lobell also was the recipient of some outstanding defensive work by the Bengals to get out of traffic. LSUE would complete double plays in three consecutive innings as the Bengals would strand six Warrior runners on the afternoon.
After stretching their lead to 6-0, LSUE put the exclamation point on the win with a six-run seventh inning. After Alexander Saunier helped start the scoring in the seventh with a bases loaded hit by pitch, Zachary Thomas laced a two-run single to push the LSUE lead to 7-0.
Tanner Vadnais (Prairieville, LA, Dutchtown HS) followed with a RBI single and Korey Cooper concluded the onslaught with a two-out two run single.
Cooper drove in a career-high six RBIs in the contest to lead the LSUE offense. He was joined by Vadnais and
Walker Bridges (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) with multi-hit games.
