In the showdown between No. 1 and No. 2, being the team on top wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Sam Walley threw a complete-game shutout, Steven Sensley was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored, and LSU-Eunice beat Hinds Community College 6-0 on Saturday night to win the NJCAA Region XXIII tournament.

LSU-Eunice (44-9) advanced to the NJCAA Division II World Series for the eighth time in 10 seasons. It was the national runner-up in 2013, and the national champion in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

Hinds (43-7) fell short of a return to the World Series. It was the national runner-up last year, and the top-ranked team in the country for much of this one. It ran roughshod over its in-state competition this spring en route to the MACJC title, and routed East Mississippi and Northwest Mississippi in the Region XXIII tournament.

In an elimination game earlier Saturday, Hinds beat Northwest 9-1 as former Warren Central star Hunter Austin had two hits and scored two runs, and Tyler Cox had three RBIs.

The Eagles, though, couldn’t get past LSU-Eunice (44-9), which was ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA Division II poll entering the Region XXIII tournament.

LSU-Eunice beat Hinds in a winners’ bracket game Friday night, then again on Saturday for the championship. After losing Friday, Hinds would have had to beat the Bengals twice to advance to the World Series.

Just like it did Friday, when it scored five runs in the first inning, LSU-Eunice jumped on Hinds early on Saturday.

Sensley singled in the bottom of the first and scored on a passed ball to put Eunice ahead 1-0. An RBI single by Cade Stone and a sacrifice fly by Sensley in the fifth extended the lead to 3-0.

Sensley struck again in the seventh inning, driving in two runs with a triple and then scoring on a base hit by Will Watson to make it 6-0.

Walley took care of the rest.

The sophomore right-hander struck out nine batters and only walked one. He pitched out of whatever trouble he got himself into — a pair of two-on, two-out jams in the fifth and eighth innings — and got some help from his defense when Cox was thrown out at home to end the third inning.

Cox, who had led off with a double, was trying to score from second on a base hit by Quade Smith.

Hinds had eight hits in the game, and threatened one last time in the ninth inning.

Chase Lunceford and Jonathan Washam singled with one out to put runners at first and second.

Jordan Washam, however, hit a line drive to the second baseman Watson that turned into a game-ending double play.