The LSU Eunice Bengal baseball team won their 4th national championship Saturday, June 2, after defeating Western Oklahoma 7-3 in the 2012 NJCAA Divsion II Baseball World Series held in Enid, Okla.

Both LSU Eunice (57-5) and Western Oklahoma (48-17) had one loss coming into the championship game of the double elmination tournament.

LSU Eunice having to work their way out of the losers’ bracket while Western Oklahoma cruised through the top of the bracket and had a rest day on Friday.

Western Oklahoma had played the most games and, as tournament rules state, was given the rest day as LSU Eunice had to defeat Heartland to advance to the finals.

Cody Boutte (NISH) (9-1) started and pitched seven innings, allowing seven hits and three runs; two earned, with three walks and 11 strikeouts.

Chad Miller (Sulphur) and Will Bacon (Parkview Baptist) combined to pitch the eighth inning, and Patrick Michon (Porter, TX) finished the game throwing the ninth.

Zac Hawkins (Northlake Christian) went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI’s to lead the offense. Sam Carriere (Destrehan), Drew Forbes (Denham Springs), and Casey Rodrigue (Brother Martin) had one RBI each.

For the tournament, Stuart Turner was named World Series Most Valuable Player and Cody Boutte was named the Most Valuable Pitcher. Dalton Herrington, Casey Rodrigue, and Brady Wilson joined Turner and Boutte on the All-Tournament team.

The Bengals won the NJCAA title in 2010, 2008 and in 2006.

Local team members are Tyler Venable of Rayne, Zac Person, Trent Vidrine and Stuart Turner of Eunice, Justin Desselle of Crowley, and Keagan Kratzer of Jennings.

The Bengals qualified for the tournament on Saturday, May 19, by winning the NJCAA Region 23 Championship.

They defeated Hinds Community College 17-0 in the regional finals to advance.

Starting pitcher Brady Domangue (Vandebilt Catholic) (7-0) went 7 1/3 innings, allowing just three hits and four walks, while striking out six batters to get the win.

Chad Miller (Sulphur) recorded the final two outs of the eighth inning, and Tanner Olinde (Catholic Pointe Coupee) allowed a hit and a walk while striking out two in the ninth.

Offensively, the Bengals collected 21 hits, led by Sam Carriere (Destrehan) who went 4-for-6 with a double, two runs scored, and five RBI’s. Dalton Herrington (Minden) and Garrett Deschamp (Parkview Baptist) tallied three hits; each going 3-for-5 with a double.

Herrington scored three times while driving in one and Deschamp scored twice with one RBI.

Adam Angelle (Teurlings Catholic) added three RBI’s going 2-for-5, and Zac Hawkins (Northlake Christian) went 2-for-5 with two runs batted in.

Drew Forbes (Denham Springs), Stuart Turner (Eunice), and Casey Rodrigue (Brother Martin) all had two hits and one RBI. Turner scored three times.