No. 2 Bengals sweep North Lake in opening weekend series

The LSU Eunice baseball team grabbed a pair of wins over visiting North Lake College on Saturday afternoon to sweep the three game season-opening series.
The Bengals (3-0) racked up 10 RBIs en route to an 11-1 game one victory Saturday before tallying 13 hits as part of a 6-4 win in the second game of the doubleheader.
“It was a long day of baseball. I’m proud of the way the guys fought through that, but I thought we lost our focus in the second game. As you get later in the year, if you go through the motions like we did, you may not come out on top,” head coach Jeff Willis said.
“We are an extremely talented team. We have a lot of work to do. We can handle some physical errors, but there were a lot of mental errors that occurred. We have to cut down on that. But if we throw strikes and offensively, if we have good at-bats and get timely hits, we are going to win a lot of ballgames,” he added.
In the first game, sophomore Derek Herrington finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, driving in three RBIs to pace LSU Eunice, who also saw fellow sophomore Stefan Trosclair (2 RBIs) and freshman Ben Chauvin (RBI) collect two hits each.
Freshman Brennen Bozeman and sophomore Ray Veit each notched a hit and an RBI, while sophomore Tyler Chapman (0-2, 2 BB) and David LaFleur (0-2, 2 BB) each drove home a run as well.
Nick Hartman earned the win for the Bengals in his collegiate debut, tossing five innings and allowing five hits, two walks and one run while striking out five batters. Sophomore O.J. Latin wrapped up the final two innings, striking out two batters.
After a North Lake solo home run in the top of the first inning, the Bengals responded with a seven-run third inning before adding three runs in the fifth and a final run in the seventh.
The third inning saw RBI singles from Trosclair and Chauvin and back-to-back bases loaded walks to Veit and LaFleur before Herrington delivered his double to drive home all three baserunners.
Trosclair collected his second RBI single in the fifth inning, as LSU Eunice also plated a run on a wild pitch and an RBI groundout by Bozeman before leaving the bases loaded to end the inning. They added their final run on a sacrifice fly by Chapman in the seventh to plate Trosclair.
The second game saw Herrington again collect three hits, including a double, while he added an RBI and scored twice. Fellow sophomore Kyle St. Pierre notched a three-hit game of his own with a double and RBI, as Bozeman (2-5, run), Trosclair (2-4, BB, RBI, 2 runs) and freshman Madison Nickens (2-4, run) all collected two hits. Chapman (1-5) connected for a two-run double for his lone hit of the second game.
Freshman Zach Hamilton grabbed his first collegiate victory after tossing 3 2/3 innings, striking out four while allowing four hits and one run. Kolby Green (1 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 K), Jevin Huval (2 innings, 2 hits, 2 K), Ben LeBlanc (2/3 inning, 1 hit, 1 BB, 2 K) and Sam Walley (1 1/3 innings, 2 K) combined to toss the final 5 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.
After taking the lead in the bottom of the first on a North Lake error, the Bengals saw the visitors tie the game in the fourth before posting three runs in the top of the fifth to take a three-run lead.
LSU Eunice responded in the bottom of the fifth, using an RBI doubles from Herrington and Chapman, and an run-scoring single from Trosclair to regain the lead before adding a final insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on St. Pierre’s RBI double.
The Bengals return to action next weekend when they welcome St. Charles Community College to town for a three-game set beginning Friday night with a 6 p.m. first pitch

The LSU Eunice baseball team rang in the 2014 season on Friday night, coming away with an 11-0 victory over visiting North Lake College in the first game of the series.
The Bengals (1-0), ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA Division II Preseason Poll, scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, adding a single run in the third inning before a four-run fifth inning and three final runs in the sixth.
Sophomore starting pitcher Chad Reeves picked up right where he left off a season ago, earning his first win of the year after tossing five innings and allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out three batters. Freshman Nick Lawrence came on to finish out the final two innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out one.
“Chad went out and set the tone right off the bat. He got some momentum on our side and made some big pitches when he needed to. That’s what we expect from a guy that’s been in that situation,” head coach Jeff Willis said.
“We had three two-out RBI hits that gave us five of our 11 runs. Those were big hits in those situations. You have to hit in the clutch, and I thought our guys did for the most part.”
A pair of sophomores led the way at the plate for LSU Eunice, as Kyle St. Pierre and Tyler Chapman each finished with two hits, as Chapman drove in a pair of RBIs and scored twice, while St. Pierre collected an RBI of his own while scoring three times.
Fellow sophomore Ray Veit finished 1-for-2 with a pair of walks while driving in two runs, while redshirt freshman David LaFleur drew two walks and added two RBIs as well.
Freshman Brennan Bozeman (1-2, 2 BB) and Mason Nickens (1-3, 1 BB) each tallied a hit as well.
St. Pierre brought home the first run of the season in the opening inning, driving home Bozeman before LaFleur extended the inning with two outs, reaching on a bobble by the North Lake first baseman that saw St. Pierre and Chapman score.
In the third inning, it was St. Pierre again in the middle of the action, singling before advancing on a wild pitch before Chapman drove him home with an RBI double to deep left field.
The fifth inning saw the Bengals load the bases with one out for Veit to single back up the middle to drive home two runs and see Nickens follow with a two-run single of his own.
In the sixth, the Bengals used three North Lake errors and five walks to plate their three runs in the inning, with Chapman’s RBI single the only hit in the frame as LSU Eunice left the bases loaded.
LSU Eunice and North Lake will wrap up their three game series Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader set for a 1 p.m. start.