EUNICE, La. – In an early-season NJCAA Top 5 matchup between two teams who expect to be in the World Series come May, No. 5 LSU Eunice took the opener, 4-2, and No. 2 Jones the nightcap, 8-7, in eight innings.
Both teams moved to 19-4 on the season.
The Bobcats play at home for the first time since Feb. 9 on Tuesday, March 3, welcoming Lansing to Ellisville for a pair at 3 o'clock.
LSUE 4, Jones 2
The Bengals hit two, two-run home runs off
Madison Sawyer to hand her her first loss of the year (7-1).
Jones got on the scoreboard in the first to start the game on
Mabry Eason's RBI-double after a
Chloe Jenkins infield single and stolen base.
Trailing 4-1 in the fifth,
Laney Little hit her sixth career triple and
Logan Mansur's RBI-groundout got the Bobcats within two but they couldn't scratch across any more.
Little is now just four triples shy of tying Nia Luckett's career triples (10) record.
Sawyer allowed just five hits but two of them over the fence. She hung zeros in three straight innings to end the game.
Jones 8, LSUE 7 (8 inn.)
Farrah James' pinch-hit, two-run scoring error with two outs in the seventh forced extra innings where Little hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth to help Jones split the day.
Mary Kimble Price gave Jones an early 1-0 lead with an RBI-single in the gap in the first.
Little's first of two home runs, a two-run shot in the fourth, extended the JC lead to 4-0.
It was 4-3 Jones when
Annaston Tate hit her first career home run as a Bobcat.
But a solo homer, two-run double and two-run homer tied the game for LSUE in the bottom of the fifth at 5-5.
LSUE pushed ahead 6-5 on a two-out infield single in the bottom of the sixth.
Down to its final strike, James' flare to short fell just out of the reach of the shortstop that allowed two runs to score and give Jones a 7-6 lead.
LSUE's third homer of the game, a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh, forced extras.
Little drilled a 1-1 pitch to right-center to lead off the eighth and
Morgan Landry would be able to retire the Bengals in the bottom half to close out the thrilling win.
Little was 2-for-4 with two homers and three RBIs and
Claire Andersen was 2-for-5 with a double in the leadoff spot.
