EUNICE, La. – There have been many trophies and accolades along the way in the 26-year history of LSU Eunice Baseball, but Saturday marked a first for the proud program – a conference championship. LSUE clinched the Louisiana Community Colleges Athletic Conference (LCCAC) regular season title after a doubleheader split with Delgado CC at Bengal Stadium.
It's LSU Eunice's first season of competition in NJCAA Division I.
The Bengals (48-3, 14-2 LCCAC) have a three-game lead on the Dolphins in the conference ledger with LSUE's final regular season game set for Sunday to wrap up its Delgado weekend series.
LSUE used the timely hit and defensive plays late to score a 4-3 win before seeing a late lead slip away in a 3-4 loss to end the day's action.
Game time for Sunday's finale is set for 1:00PM. The Bengals will then turn their attention to the NJCAA Division I Region 23 Tournament set for May 3-6 at Denham Springs HS with Baton Rouge CC to serve as host. The winner will advance to the best-of-three South District Championship Series against the Alabama-based Region 22 Champion. The series will be played at the Region 22 winner from May 15-17.
Game 1 vs. Delgado CC – W, 4-3
LSU Eunice held off a late Delgado rally to take a 4-3 victory in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. The Bengals jumped out to a 4-1 lead before
McCray Jacobs (Johnson City, TX, Johnson City HS) picked up his second save of the season.
The Bengals used runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to break an early 1-1 tie kickstarted by a RBI double from
Ashton Fuselier (Lake Charles, LA, Sam Houston HS).
Jordan Luna (Washington, LA, Opelousas Catholic HS) followed an inning later with an RBI double of his own and
Jackson Legg (Shreveport, LA, Calvary Baptist HS) provided what would be the game winning run with a towering solo home run to right field in the fifth inning.
Luna was the lone Bengal to record multiple hits as LSUE totaled six hits in the contest. Legg started the scoring for LSUE with a sacrifice fly to bring home
Tyson LeBlanc (Maurice, LA, North Vermilion HS) in the first.
Alec Beversdorf (Seabrook, TX, Clear Falls HS) would become the first Bengal pitcher this season to record double digit wins, going 5.1 innings in the start. The sophomore gave up three earned runs off five hits and three walks, striking out a pair.
Jacobs slammed the door on the Dolphins after two runs in the sixth, hurling 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. The southpaw would strike out one batter.
Game 2 vs. Delgado CC -L, 3-4
LSU Eunice saw a late lead slid by to suffer a 4-3 setback to Delgado to close out the Saturday action. The Bengals would leave nine runners on base, including five in scoring position.
The Bengals held a 3-1 lead after three innings, using a second inning error to get on the scoreboard first. After Delgado tied the game in the top of the third, the Bengals plated two more runs off a
Sam Eppinette (Mandeville, LA, Fontainebleau HS) RBI single and
Tyler Mitchell (Marrero, LA, John Curtis HS) sacrifice fly.
Will Mabry, IV (St. Joseph, LA, Tensas Academy) collected two of the team's five hits in the game.
Xavier Woods (Cleveland, TX, Cleveland HS) received the no decision after 4.2 innings of work, giving up three runs – only one of them earned – off four hits and four walks while striking out six batters. Delgado tied the game in the fifth off one of two LSUE errors and a sacrifice fly. The Dolphins took their only lead of the game on a seventh inning RBI single.
LSUE would have chances to score late, leaving two runners on with no outs in the sixth and a runner stranded at third in the seventh.
Hudson Spangler (Zachary, LA, Zachary HS) gave a strong effort in relief of Woods, tossing 2.1 innings. He would surrender one run off hits while not issuing a free pass. Spangler struck out four batters to give LSUE 10 total punch outs in the game.
