Moving Forward

The 2016 baseball Bengals of are off to a quick start in the season that began January 29. The question is whether they will have the experience to continue a winning tradition that has made the program at Louisiana State University at Eunice arguably the best in a state laden year after year with talented teams.

The Bengals led by coach Jeff Willis are the defending national Division II Junior College champions, and have captured five national championships in 10 years (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2015). Last year’s team finished with 49 wins and 10 losses and fourteen players from that squad moved on to play Division 1 college baseball.

Willis is beginning his 14th season as head coach of the baseball team and 12th year as Athletic Director. Since he became head coach, more than 140 Bengal players have earned scholarships with Division I colleges. Nearly 50 players who played for LSUE have been drafted by major league teams.

That combination of national titles and attention from Division I coaches and big league scouts has made LSUE one of the most 

recognized junior college programs in the nation.

In addition to the five championships, Willis has led the Bengals to nine regional championships, eight district championships, and a total of eight World Series appearances. His team finished second in the nation in 2013, and the Bengals also had two 3rd place finishes.
“In junior college, your goal should be developing players and putting them in position to go forward,” Willis said in a recent newspaper interview. “I want every one of our players to have that opportunity after two years. We have been fortunate to have kids here who have been good enough to play at another level.”
Willis, who holds a bachelor’s degree in health sciences from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and a master’s degree in health and kinesiology from Texas A&M at Kingsville, began the season with a record of 623 wins and 158 losses at LSUE. Winning nearly 80 percent of the time brings big challenges and high expectations every year—something Willis thinks has both positive and negative aspects.