Hahnville’s season came to an end Saturday afternoon as Fontainebleau completed an opening round sweep of the hosting Tigers, winning 6-2.
That 6-2 score matched the score of the Bulldogs’ game one win Thursday, also 6-2, The No. 17 seeded Bulldogs advanced to face top seed West Monroe in round two, a series that begins Friday.
No. 17 Fontainebleau stood as a tough draw on paper, with six collegiate signees and a 6-1 record in its final seven regular season games – plus a 3-0 victory over the Tigers (19-15) earlier this season. But HHS head coach Jared Vial said it was simply a battle of two high quality teams – the simple truth was that only one could win.
“That’s a really good team, but we’re a good team as well,” Vial said. “They executed and got more timely hits than us … they wanted it as much as we did. Somebody has to lose though.
“We didn’t execute on offense. We got guys on but couldn’t get that extra hit, and we knew we were up against a good hitting team. If we couldn’t hang with them swinging the bats, it wouldn’t be a close game, and their guy did a good job keeping us at bay.”
Fontainebleau head coach Johnny Wortmann said his team is tough to rattle, and though Hahnville took an early lead Saturday, his group kept to the gameplan.
“All season long, when we give up something early … these guys aren’t fazed,” he said. “That’s a team that’s going to fight and put pressure on you in Hahnville. You saw it in the last two innings, they kept applying pressure. But it didn’t shake us at all.”
At the top of the Bulldogs’ order, Austin Canale and Alex Walsh were the catalysts for the win on Saturday, going a combined 6-for-6 with five total runs scored. Pierce Boles also drove in two runs to highlight the offense.
On the mound, Evan Folse improved to 6-0 with the win. He struck out eight, walked just one and allowed one earned run on two hits.
Truman Moyer and Talan Theriot led HHS at the plate. Moyer went 1-for-4 with two runs scored. Theriot was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Theriot took the loss on the mound, going the complete game and allowing five earned runs on 10 hits.
Theriot singled home Moyer in the first inning to put Hahnville ahead 1-0. But Fontainebleau answered right back, tying the game on a Sam Eppinette RBI single then going ahead 2-1 on a Jackson Wall sacrifice fly. Boles scored on a throwing error to make it 3-1 before the end of the first inning.
Fontainebleau (23-8) tacked on two more runs in the fourth.
Theriot drove in another run in the sixth to cut the lead to 5-2, but Fontainebleau answered in its half and held HHS scoreless in the seventh to secure the 6-2 final.
In the first game of the series, Sam Simoneaux and Kason Alexander led HHS offensively, each going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Donovan Friloux took the loss in relief on the mound.
Walsh struck out eight in six innings of work to earn the win for the Bulldogs. He allowed one earned run on five hits.
Boles went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead the Bulldog bats,
The teams entered the seventh inning tied 2-2 when Fontainebleau struck big for a four-run, decisive inning.
While the Tigers hoped to go further, Vial’s first season at the helm of the program brought the team’s first home playoff games since 2017 and a late season sweep of rival Destrehan. He said his players have plenty to be proud of.
“We call this Team One, my first team here – they laid that foundation this season,” Vial said. “This is a community that’s been longing for a baseball program that can really make a push for a state championship. I can’t be prouder of these guys. They show up every day for work – they do it all right. This group created a lot of momentum for our program going into the offseason.”
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