Tom Dodge
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third of a 12-story series celebrating LSUE’s baseball and softball national championships.
In 2010, the LSU Eunice Bengals won their third NJCAA Division II national championship after falling short of their goal the year before in Enid, Oklahoma.
In 2009, LSUE opened the world series with an 11-7 win over Monroe Community College and then battled to a 21-11 victory over Western Oklahoma.
In that game the two teams combined for a world series record 32 runs and 31 RBIs.
The Bengals fell to Scottsdale Community College in a 5-4 heartbreaker but rebounded with a 10-9 thriller over Lurleen B. Wallace Community College.
LSUE’s season ended with a 9-1 loss to the Scottsdale Battling Artichokes.
Parkland would defeat Scottsdale 11-3 to capture the 2009 national title.
LSUE head coach Jeff Willis said he remembers the 2010 team was a solid squad hungry to return to the national tournament.
“We were able to get Raph Ryhmes to transfer over from LSU, but the rest of the guys were part of the freshmen group that finished third the year before.
“That was a very tough team both mentally and physically,” the coach said.
The Bengals finished the 2010 regular season with a 44-12 record, but had lost three straight to San Jacinto heading into the post season.
After a 14-10 loss to East Central Mississippi Community College in the Region 23 opener, the Bengals were one more defeat away from ending its season short of making the World Series.
LSUE regrouped with wins over Pearl River Community College (9-3) and East Central Mississippi Community College (12-4) to set up a showdown with Hinds Community College.
The Bengals swept Hinds in a doubleheader (12-10, 16-6) to advance to the national tournament.
“Every game we played was a run-rule,” Willis said of the 2010 world series. “We even lost in a run-rule game.
“The only game not decided by the run-rule was the championship game where you had to play all nine innings.”
LSUE opened the world series with a 16-5 win over Parkland College as the Bengals used a 17-hit barrage to cruise past the defending Division II national champs.
LSUE jumped on Parkland for four runs in the first inning as Gabe Thibodeaux, Jacob Fisher and Zach Kirksey has run-scoring hits.
Brook Boudreaux drove in another run on a squeeze bunt.
The Bengals broke the game open with a six-run seventh inning as Jordan Bourque’s bases loaded 3-RBI double helped push LSUE to a 12-1 lead.
Thibodeaux and Rhymes led the Bengals offensively with four hits each.
Tony Dischler scattered six hits in seven innings pitched to notch the win while striking out five batters.
LSUE then run-ruled Paradise Valley, 11-2 in their second game of the tournament as the Bengals offense exploded for six runs in the first inning.
Thibodeaux hit a home run and finished with two hits and two RBI.
Jordan Bourque chipped in three singles and two RBI while Eldred Barnett and Ryan Broussard also drove in a pair of runs.
The next opponent on the Bengals’ trek to the title was top-ranked Western Oklahoma.
LSUE was dropped into the loser’s bracker as Western Oklahoma cruised to an 11-1 setback.
A grand slam as part of a six-run second inning helped sealed LSUE’s fate.
Western added four runs in the sixth inning that included a two-run home run.
LSUE’s lone run came off a Rhymes RBI single to bring in Les Aulds.
Facing elimination the rest of the week, the Bengals responded with wins over Paradise Valley and Iowa Central to advance to the title game.
LSUE rolled past Paradise Valley, 15-4 as the Bengals produced 16 hits in the win.
Rhymes and Broussard each collected three hits as LSU Eunice run-ruled the Pumas for the second time in three days.
LSUE stormed out the gate with five runs in the third inning but Paradise Valley responded with three of its own in the fifth inning.
The Bengals put the game away in the bottom of the eighth with three runs off four hits capped off by the game-ending RBI from Thibodeaux.
Joe Fabre picked up the win in 4.2 innings of work, yielding three runs off five hits.
Andrew Reeves came on in relief throwing three scoreless innings with just one hit allowed.
Two days later, the Bengals put down Iowa Central 15-4 as LSUE was were led by an early first inning three-run home run from Jacob Fisher.
Boudreaux added an inside-the-park home run in the second inning.
The Bengals surged for seven runs in the third inning aided by Broussard’s grand slam.
Jordan Bourque led the offensive charge with a 3-for-4 game driving in three runs and scoring twice off of a pair of doubles.
Dischler picked up the mercy-rule win after throwing two innings, striking out a batter while scattering two runs off three hits.
Oklahoma fan-favorite Western Oklahoma was pushed from the tournament as the Pioneers lost to the University of Connecticut – Avery Point twice, 5-2 and 10-4.
Just like LSUE, UCONN-Avery Point had lost earlier in the tournament (to Iowa Central 9-1) so it was winner-take-all finale when the Bengals and the Huskies battled for the title.
The Bengals then rolled to a 10-2 win the championship, led by the Pitcher of the Tournament, Chance Mistric.
Mistric allowed just two runs on four hits in 6.1 innings of work, capturing his 13th win of the campaign.
The Bengals struck for a three-run third inning to get on the board first thanks to Jacob Fisher’s two-out, three-run double.
Boudreaux and Les Aulds laced back-to-back hits to drive in runs an inning later and give LSUE a 5-0 advantage through four innings.
LSUE broke the game open with another three-run hit thanks to Brook Boudreaux’s triple in the eighth inning.
Aulds followed with a sacrifice fly to score Boudreaux and make it a 9-2 game.
Andrew Reeves, Dustin Fulks and Kaleb Manuel combined for the final 2.2 innings allowing just one hit.
Gabriel Thibodeaux was named the tournament’s MVP after hitting .610 in the series with a home run and six RBI.
The sophomore was also issued nine walks or hit by pitch and flawless defensively converting on all 43 chances.
Willis said Mistric’s post season experience is one he will never forget.
“Chance was hurt heading in the regionals with a pulled muscle in his back and tried to fight through against East Central.
“He could not pitch in the first game of the national tournament as our number one pitcher,” the coach said. “Tony Dischler pitched game one on Saturday and then our next game was on Monday.
“Chance was a veteran and we were able to have him pitch on Memorial Day with the local veterans in attendance.
“He also got to start the championship game as well,” Willis said. “If he hadn’t been hurt, it wouldn’t have lined up like that.”
Rhymes (Neville High) was named to the first team All-American list as an infielder and Chance Mistric (Port Barre) was named to the second team All-American list as a pitcher.
Mistric was also a second team All-American in 2009.
The Bengals finished the season with a 52-13 record, the third time LSUE had won 52 games.