Hahnville hadn’t forgotten the past two years of postseason play each resulting in a quick first round exit. On Monday, the Tigers simply weren’t about to let that streak reach three.
HHS left-hander Austin Perrin pitched a one-hitter and the offense behind him was potent in the Tigers’ 11-1 first round playoff victory over Central-Baton Rouge.
The game ended after six innings because of the 10-run rule. The Tigers advance to round two, where it will travel to face No. 4 Catholic-Baton Rouge.
“The last couple years we’ve not gotten out of the first round,” Hahnville coach David Baudry said. “We’ve had a couple of tough losses. We really dedicated last Thursday, Friday and Saturday to go back to work, to practice long and hard. I could see the confidence in my team coming into today.”
Perrin struck out nine over seven innings and allowed one unearned run.
“He’s our guy,” Baudry said. “We have a great pitching staff. But he’s the one that’s been in this game. He’s seasoned and he thrives on the competition.”
The Tigers entered the postseason as the No. 13 seed in 5A — Baudry had said the Tigers hoped to lock down a top 8 seed and the greater potential to host two straight rounds.
Perrin said he and his teammates took note of that ranking.
”We had confidence, and we played with a chip on our shoulder,” Perrin said. “We’re not where we want to be in the rankings, but we played like we’re No. 1.”
Another good omen for the Tigers is that a Hahnville lineup that seemed to break out of a slump in the final week of the regular season kept its bats hot.
Offensively, Hahnville has scored 11 runs for the second time in its past three games and has totaled 27 runs and 28 hits over those three games, including 11 Monday.
Peyton Keller went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate for Hahnville (24-9). Pat Phelan went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Bryce Hargis and Wade Orgeron each drove in a pair of runs. Waylon LeBlanc went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.
In the third inning, Central (16-14) took advantage of a pair of Tiger mistakes to get ahead 1-0, first on an error that led to the run in the top half of the inning, then after Keller tripled to lead off the bottom half of the third but was thrown out at home on the next at-bat.
“We’ll take that anytime,” Baudry said. “That was an aggressive mistake. The third baseman blocked the runner. He didn’t see the ball bunted back to the pitcher and took off. That’s our aggressive style. We live and die by that. The guys behind him picked him up and that was huge.”
Indeed, the Tigers didn’t dwell on it. The Tigers generated a tying run later that inning on Waylon LeBlanc’s RBI single up the middle. Perrin recorded a perfect fourth.
“I think that kind of got our feet back under us,” Baudry said. “They threw a punch, we took the punch and we moved on. That was big.”
Hargis led off the bottom half with a walk. Cade Miguez executed a picture-perfect bunt for a single, then Orgeron sacrificed Hargis in to make it 2-1. Keller smashed a line drive to keep things going and Braxton Dufrene walked to load the bases. Hunter LeBlanc was hit by a pitch to force in a run, then two more scored on a passed ball to make it 5-1.
The Tigers chased Central starter Makhail Hilliard from the game in favor of the bullpen in the fourth, and from there the floodgates were open. Hargis hit a hard shot up the middle to drive in two runs, making it 7-1.
Central used five pitchers in the game.
“We felt we had to get to their bullpen,” Baudry said. “(Hilliard) is really good. We knew we needed to put men back on base. That was the critical inning and we answered the bell. “
HHS added another run in the fifth and three more in the sixth to close the game out.
Hunter Hebert recorded Central’s lone hit on the day.
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