Press Release via LSUE Athletics
EUNICE, La. – LSU Eunice used a standout performance from Xavier Woods to help lead the Bengals to a 4-2 win over Shelton State on Friday in the Game 2 of the South District Championship Series. LSUE (53-4) forces a winner-take-all contest on Saturday at 1:00PM with a ticket to Grand Junction, Colorado and the NJCAA Baseball Division I World Series on the line.
Woods turned his best performance of the season, going a season-long 7.1 innings. The southpaw settled down after surrendering a first inning run to limit the Bucs to just four baserunners the final five innings of his outing.
The turning point of the game came in the sixth inning when Shelton State seemed poised to climb out of a 3-2 hole. The Buccaneers would connect on back-to-back hits to begin the frame to put two runners in scoring position. The Bengals would pick off the runner at third after Milan Obradovich threw to third and forced a tag out. Woods would send the Bengals’ dugout into a frenzy by ending the inning with back-to-back strikeouts, two of his seven punchouts in the game.
A similar story to Thursday’s opener, the two sides would go back-and-forth for much of the evening in another nailbiter. After Shelton State scored in the top half of the first, Ashton Fuselier laced a two-out double to score Aidan Mouton and tie the game back up. They traded runs again in the third with an error on a Will Mabry IV’s sacrifice bunt allowed Cash Riley III to score.
The Bengals would finally push ahead for good in the fifth when Tyler Mitchell legged out an infield single to short, helping Mabry IV score with the bases loaded. Tyson LeBlanc provided a valuable insurance run, sacrificing home Mabry IV after a lead off triple by the designated hitter.
Mabry IV was joined by Jordan Luna to record multi-hit games as LSUE outhit Shelton State 7-5. Mabry IV also scored two of the team’s runs.
Aidan Mouton would record his fourth save of the season, working around a walk to induce three fly outs to end the game in the ninth. McCray Jacobs bridged between Woods and Mouton, getting two outs in the seventh inning.