May 22, 2021
The Warriors of East Central Community College gave it their all in Poplarville on Saturday, but fell to the LSU Eunice Bengals, 7-5, in the NJCAA Region XXIII championship game. The Warriors officially end the season 30-17 overall and as the NJCAA Region XXIII runners up, the highest program finish since 2016.
"This was a great season and I think the world of these young men. I'm not only proud of them as players, but also as people," said ECCC head coach Neal Holliman. "It's always good to play for a championship, but making it to the world series is our goal and it's frustrating to have come up short twice in the last five years. However, there were a lot of teams that didn't get this far so we are proud of our guys' effort."
The Bengals were quickly in front of the Warriors with a run in the bottom of the second and another three in the third making it 4-0.
Austin Lee (Madison) responded for ECCC with a towering solo homer in the top of the fourth. Trey Lewis (Silas, Ala.) followed up just three batters later with an RBI single that plated Kade Turnage (Picayune), who drew a walk earlier in the frame, to cut the lead to 4-2.
In the fourth, the Bengals had another big inning as they plated three, growing the lead to 7-2.
The Warriors dug deep in the top of the fifth as Amani Larry (Bossier City, La.) reached base on an error that scored Clayton Cook (Mize), who also reached on a fielding error. Jesse Boydstun (Louisville) drove in a run on sac fly to right to pull ECCC to within three, 7-4.
Cook was back at it again in the sixth with a solo homer that cleared the left-field wall at Dub Herring Park, unfortunately, the run would be the last for the Warriors.
The Warriors put some runners on base in the final three innings, and Walker Johnson (Mantee) threw a stellar eighth inning as he fanned three LSU Eunice batters on only 13 pitches, but it wasn't enough as Eunice hung on to win.
Gage Tufnell (Hurley) took the loss for East Central on the mound after he went two innings, allowing three runs on three hits. Roper Ball (Noxapter), Trevor Waddell (Madison), Gates Pee (Clinton), and Hayden West (Decatur), all joined Johnson in relief. The group combined for six strikeouts and surrendered nine hits.
Cook, Lewis, and Lee all led the Warriors with two hits at the plate, while Boydstun joined that trio with one RBI each.
"To get to this point, you've got to have a lot of comradery and togetherness, and this team has that," said Holliman. "The fact that our third-year guys came back speaks to how much they believed in us, and we've got four phenomenal people in Eli [Harrison], Roper [Ball], Jesse [Boydstun], and Walker [Johnson]. I would be tickled to death if either of my two sons grows up to be like any of those four. Overall I'm just very proud of all of our sophomores for being such leaders of this team."
With the win, LSU Eunice advances to the NJCAA DII Baseball World Series in Enid, Okla. as the Region XXIII representative, scheduled to be played next weekend.
