2018 Bengals set record with sixth title

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the 11th of a 12-story series celebrating LSUE’s baseball and softball national championships.
The Bengals were the host team for the 2018 Region 23 tournament and LSU Eunice earned three straight wins over Hinds Community College (10-0), Itawamba (5-4, 11 innings) and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (13-4).
LSUE lost 6-1 to Meridian Community College (6-1) but rebounded for a 10-3 win over the Eagles in the winner-take-all game and earned a berth in the NJCAA Division II World Series.
It was the Bengals’ ninth trip to the World Series and first since 2015.
“We had a very veteran team,” LSUE head coach Jeff Willis said. “There were nine guys on that team that was their third year in college.
“We had one of the better leadership groups and we had quality athletes throughout the line-up.”
The NJCAA changed its format in 2018, with a best-of-three championship series to win the title.
“I thought the change was a tremendous idea,”Willis said. “The tournament was seeded which had never been done. Before then you had the luck of a draw to see where you would be in that bracket.
“By seeding the bracket, you let the teams who had earned their seed be rewarded for that and then at the end as long as both teams were undefeated you play a three- game series,” the coach said.
Zach Hester threw his first complete game of the season to help No. 1 LSU Eunice run-rule No. 8 Brunswick, 9-0, in the Bengals’ series opener.
The sophomore pumped in a career-best 14 strikeouts over the eight-inning outing.
Brent Hebert and Evan Keller both scored on stolen base attempts as LSUE swiped eight bases in the game including three by Jacob Richard.
Mason Templet led the LSUE offense with a three-for-four night, driving in four RBIs including a walk-off three-run home run to left field in the eighth.
Richard also had a multi-hit game, scoring an eighth inning run off a Koi Westbrook sacrifice bunt.
LSU Eunice erased a three-run deficit thanks to a Hayden Mixon Grand Slam to jumpstart the Bengals in a 10-6 win over No. 4 NOC-Enid.
The fourth inning bomb gave LSUE the lead for good as the Bengals scored in each of their final five at-bats.
Slate Fuller pushed the lead to 6-3 after Slate Fuller knocked an opposite field two-run home run to right field.
Fuller paced the Bengals’ 12-hit night with a three-for-four game, driving in two runs and scoring three times.
Andrew Sheridan recorded his 11th victory of the season. The freshman gave up four runs off of four hits and two walks while striking out five batters.
Austin Bradford, Justin Barton and Landon Clifton pitched in relief to help stave off the Jets.
LSUE played its most complete game of the season in a 10-1 win over NOC-Enid to advance to the NJCAA Championship Series.
The Bengals used another grand slam, this one by Koi Westbrook, to push ahead of the Jets and never looked back.
The second inning slam was more than enough for Dane Dixon.
After giving up an early run, Dixon retired the next 15 batters and allowed just one hit in the final six innings.
The home run barrage continued in the third inning with Fuller knocked his second homer of the World Series to give LSUE a 6-1 edge.
Templet and Hayden Mixon helped add two more in the fifth while the Bengals scratched the final two runs in the sixth inning off of a bunt and ground out.
The long ball continued to be a theme for No. 1 LSU Eunice as the Bengals used a pair of three-run home runs to take down No. 2 Parkland College, 9-5, in the championshipseries opener.
LSUE found itself in an early hole down 2-1 after 3.5 innings. Cameron Horton lifted a three-run opposite field home run to give the Bengals the lead for good, 4-2.
Horton became the fifth different Bengal to blast a homer at David Allen Memorial Stadium during the world series.
The lead increased to 9-3 thanks to a run scoring double by Mason Templet in the fifth and Koi Westbrook’s three-run shot in the sixth inning.
Westbrook and Templet both collected multi-hit games in LSUE’s eight-hit effort
Noah Beason (3-0) picked up the win after relieving Brian Fairbanks for two innings.
The freshman threw two complete innings, giving up one run off two hits and a walk. Jacob Spell allowed two runs in the seventh to allow the Cobras to creep to 9-5.
Justin Barton, Austin Bradford and Landon Clifton shut down the Parkland bats for the final 2.1 innings, giving up two hits to close out the game.
With a flair for the dramatic, LSU Eunice’s Slate Fuller blasted a walk-off two run home run to give Bengals a 5-3 win over Parkland and the 2018 NJCAA Division II national title.
“I couldn’t think of a better ending,” Willis said of the walk-off home run. “It was so unexpected.”
Brent Hebert singled in the bottom of the ninth and then with two outs, Fuller’s towering homer gave the Bengals its sixth national championship.
Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Bengals responded when Cameron Horton drew a two-out walk, pinch runner Brennan Faulk stole second and Jacob Richard was hit by a pitch for the fifth time in the tournament.
Koi Westbrook singled up the middle to plate Faulk to tie the game, 3-3.
The Bengals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second begun when Slate Fuller singled and scored on a passed ball.
Hayden Mixon singled and later scored on a hit by Jacob Richard who advanced on a Parkland error.
LSUE threatened in the third when Brent Hebert walked but could not advance.
Bengal pitcher Zach Hebert struck out seven of the first nine batters, but the Cobras took advantage of an error and a double to tie the game in the top of the fourth.
Brendan Joyce reached on a mishandled bunt, Conner Aube walked and Trystian Raikes then ripped a two-RBI double to centerfield.
LSUE threatened again in the bottom of the fourth when Fuller and Cameron Horton both walked but neither could score.
Parkland grabbed a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth on a solo home run by Max Downs.
Mixon walked and Horton singled in the bottom of the sixth frame but again neither could advance.
The Bengals had another chance in the bottom of the seventh when Koi Westbrook walked and Hebert was hit by a pitch but the Parkland defense held.
After the Downs home run, Parkland had opportunties to add insurance runs in both the seventh and eighth innings but stranded four base runners.
Hester had a strong outing as he pitched eight innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits with nine strike outs, three walks and one hit batsman.
Justin Barton closed the ninth inning for the Bengals as he struck out two in the shut out inning.
The Bengals finished with eight hits against five Parkland pitchers.
Fuller went 2-for-4 with a walk and the game winning two RBI home run.
Westbrook fiinished 2-for-4 with a RBI.
Westbrook was named the Most Valuable Player as well as the Most Valuable Defensive Player after batting .438 with 10 RBI and just one error in 20 chances at shortstop.
Hester struck out nine batters in eight innings in the championship contest to earn Most Valuable Pitcher honors.
He allowed just two earned runs in 16 total innings, sttriking out 23 batters in the tournament.
Hester increased his season total to 133 strikeouts, second most in a single-season at LSUE behind Ben Braymer’s 138 in 2015.
Jacob Richard and Mason Templet were also named to the All-Tournament team.
Richard went 7-for-10 with four walks, six runs scored and seven stolen bases.
LSU transfer Templet went 12-for-17 in the tournament with four walks, six RBI and six runs scored.
The Bengals powered through the tournament without a loss, completing its national title run with an overall record of 59-6 in 2018.
LSUE outscored its opponents 43-15 in the team’s five tournament contests to go along with eight home runs.
Hester was named the 2018 NJCAA Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
The pitcher was also named the NJCAA Division II National Pitcher of the Year, a first-team NJCAA All-American and first-team All-Region 23 pitcher.