TUSCALOOSA - No. 10 Shelton State overcame a five-run deficit in the sixth inning to knock off No. 2,LSU Eunice 8-6 to advance to the NJCAA World Series for the third straight year.
Shelton State (48-11) defeated LSU Eunice two games to one to capture the South District Championship.
The Bucs are making their eighth overall trip to Grand Junction, and fourth in the last five years. This marks the second time Shelton State has gone to the World Series three straight years. The Bucs also made three straight trips in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The Bucs trailed 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning after the Bengals scored three runs in the top of the inning.
Shelton State scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to trim the deficit to 6-3.
Sophomore CF Pierce Dutton led off the inning with a triple into the right field corner. Freshman Jackson Henderson brought him home with a ground out to shortstop.
Freshman 2B James Graphos laced a double into left-center field. After a fly out, sophomore 1B Brady Waugh doubled to left to make it 6-3.
The Bucs kept the momentum going with in the sixth inning with four more runs to take a 7-6 lead.
LSU Eunice (53-5) made three errors, walked two and threw two wild pitches in the inning.
Sophomore SS Paxton Ponder scored on a wild pitch and sophomore RF Trenton Shirley scored when Bengals catcher Milo Obradivich had an errant throw following the wild pitch.
Dutton scored the tying run when Henderson reached on a throwing error by shortstop Tyson LeBlanc, his second of the inning.
Sophomore LF Hayes Alford slapped a single to right field to score Henderson with the go-ahead run.
Sophomore RHP Jeremy O'Quinn, who entered the game in the sixth inning, made sure the lead held up.
O'Quinn (3-1) worked four scoreless innings for his second win in six days. He retired 12 of the 14 batters he faced.
He also threw three shutout innings to earn the win over WS Hanceville in Monday's ACCC Championship Game.
Hudson Spangler (4-3), who faced three batters and allowed two runs, took the loss. He had three of Bengals five losses this year.
Shelton State tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning to stretch the lead to 8-6.
Henderson drew a two-out walk and moved to second on a single by Graphos.
Alford followed with his third hit of game, a line-drive RBI single to right-center to make it 8-6. Alford also finished with two RBIs.
Things didn't begin so well for the Bucs, who trailed 2-0 in the second inning.
The Bengals got two infield hits in the first inning and scored their first run on a balk.
Obradovich tripled in the second inning and scored on a sac fly by Jordan Luna.
The Bucs cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third inning when Alford singled and later scored on a sac fly by Lawson Neel.
LSU Eunice added another run in the fourth and scored three times in the fifth to go up 6-1.
Ashton Fuselier had an RBI single and two runs scored on ground outs.
The Bucs erased a 5-run deficit and tied its largest comeback of the season.
Alford had three hits and two RBIs. Graphos and Waugh both had two hits and one RBI. Dutton reached base three times (triple, 2 walks) and scored twice.