What was a magical postseason run for Destrehan came to an end Saturday in the state semifinals.
No. 2 seed Sam Houston moved onto the state championship game, sweeping the 14th seeded Wildcats in the Division I non-select semifinal best-of-three series between the teams, 1-0 on Friday and 7-3 on Saturday at Sam Houston.
The defending state champion Bearkats (32-8) advance to take on No. 8 Dutchtown in Sulphur in the division’s state championship game, which begins May 14.
It brought to an end Destrehan’s 6-game winning streak, one that began in Game 2 of its opening round series with Fontainebleau. DHS lost the opener of that series 1-0 before reeling off six straight to eliminate the Bulldogs, No. 3 West Monroe and No. 6 Benton. The latter two series saw DHS (28-12) go 4-0 on road trips to north Louisiana, notching back-to-back sweeps to reach the semifinals.
Destrehan head baseball coach Chris Mire said it was a special season for his team, one made possible by a special group.
“Win or lose (at Sam Houston), it wasn’t going to change the way that I describe this team or the season for us,” Mire said. “We knew it was a special group early on. It’s rare that you get a group that just really plays for one another like this one. They did things the right way. Never questioned the process or turned on each other. Again, they just played so hard for one another.”
He said he didn’t feel like the semifinals saw the Wildcats play their best, but also credited Sam Houston for having much to do with that.
Game 1 at Sam Houston saw a pitching duel between Destrehan’s Chase Marcotte and Sam Houston’s Owen Gailey. Gailey earned the win, going 6.2 shutout innings and allowing one hit while striking out 11. He walked two. Coleton Donaldson notched an out to earn the save for the Bearkats.
Marcotte allowed no earned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out four.
This game was a tense, scoreless battle until Sam Houston finally broke through for a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Carson Christ’s single drove in Hudson Anderson, who was running for Quin Fiascarnaro who reached on error to begin the inning. Kannon Keiser’s single moved Anderson to third.
Destrehan battled to get two on with two outs after Derek Lucas was hit by a pitch and Cameron Hollis drew a walk, but Donaldson was able to notch the final out.
Mire said both Marcotte and Gailey were on point all night.
“Marc filled up the strike zone, gave us a great outing,” said Mire. “We were in the fight. (Gailey) was really good. Calm, controlled … he threw multiple pitches for strikes all night. You know you’re gonna have to scratch across a runner before they do. A lot of credit to him because he was very, very tough that night.”
In Game 2, Destrehan led 1-0 on Lucas’ RBI single to score Chase Mire, who singled to lead off the bottom of the first inning before stealing second base.
But Sam Houston took control from there. A Ty Smith single and a pair of errors led to Brock Blessington scoring the game-tying run before Christ hit a 3-run home run to left field to make it 4-1.
“It was unfortunately kind of the story of the weekend, mistakes on our part. We’ve been playing such good defense but it was a tough day for us there,” Mire said.
Destrehan answered in the bottom half of the inning on Josh Muller’s RBI single to score Brady Carter. But Gailey’s two out double with two outs in the top of the third ignited another strong scoring inning for the Bearkats. Ty Smith’s double made it 5-2, then Fiascanaro singled to plate two more runs, pushing the lead to 7-2.
“A four spot and a three spot,” Chris Mire said. “At the end of the day it got to be too big a deficit.”
Muller’s fourth inning RBI cut that lead to four, but DHS couldn’t draw closer from there.
Donaldson threw four scoreless innings of relief to earn the win, allowing one hit. He struck out one and walked one.
Chase Mire took the loss for Destrehan, allowing no earned runs but seven total on six hits and no walks. He struck out three. Brody Fairleigh, Muller and Dugas combined for 4.1 scoreless innings.
Carter led DHS offensively, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Muller went 1-for-3, driving in two runs.
Nine seniors from this team graduate. Mire said their contributions to the program will be lasting.
“For personal reasons, this was a special season for me, the last season with my son,” Mire said. “And also because this group, I watched them grow up. I sat in the bleachers with these parents watching our kids play baseball together. So, the personal aspect, then combined with what they did on the field, playing the right way – it was a perfect storm.”
