Tigers fall in best of three to Catholic

After a highly competitive best two-of-three Class 5A second round series, Hahnville’s season came to an end Tuesday night on the road as Catholic-Baton Rouge secured a 5-1 victory in the series’ third and deciding game. Catholic, the fourth seed in 5A, advanced to the state quarterfinals to face No. 5 Jesuit.

The Bears scored two runs in the second inning and three in the third to take full command. Cole Johnson’s RBI double pushed Catholic’s lead to 2-0, while Josh Smith’s two-run home run highlighted the third inning.

Hahnville, 5A’s No. 13 seed, scored its lone run in the fifth inning on Wade Orgeron’s RBI double.

Bryce Hargis took the loss for Hahnville. He started and went two innings, allowing four runs—two earned — on five hits. Lloyd Landry and Austin Perrin each pitched two innings in relief, Landry allowing one run on five hits and Perrin no runs on one hit.

Catholic starter Parker Evans controlled the action, tossing a complete game two-hitter as he earned the win. He struck out five and walked two.

Hargis earned the start Tuesday after his outing in Sunday’s game two was cut short due to a rain delay.

While Hahnville (25-11) found great success through the first two games pounding the strike zone with the fastball, Catholic (24-5) had an answer Tuesday, pounding out 11 hits.

“They really did a great job attacking fastballs, something they really hadn’t done over the first two games,” Hahnville coach David Baudry said. “On our end of it, we hit a lot of balls hard but they made some great plays. They are really special defensively. They track down balls in the outfield and can turn hits into outs. That’s their calling card.”

Hahnville and Catholic split the first two games of the series, each winning on the road.

The Tigers took the first game on Friday, winning 4-1 at Catholic on the back of Austin Perrin’s complete game, five-hit pitching performance. The Louisiana-Lafayette commitment struck out nine and allowed one earned run en route to the win.

Catholic’s Brady Hebert allowed four earned runs on seven hits and two walks.

Hahnville extended a 2-1 lead to 4-1 in the top of the seventh to put things out of reach, plating runs on RBIs by Braxton Dufrene and Waylon LeBlanc.

“Austin was outstanding,” Baudry said. “We were able to keep the pressure on (Catholic) defensively all game. We really pitched and played defense at a very high level in the first two games.”

In the second game, it took an extra inning to decide matters. Catholic scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning on Connor Bowen’s RBI single to secure the 4-2 win in a game the two teams combined for seven hits.

Lloyd Landry took the loss in relief for Hahnville. He, Hargis and LeBlanc combined to allow four hits.

Brady Sartain earned the win for Catholic, pitching 5.2 shutout innings in relief.

Baudry said while a loss to end the season will never leave anything but a bitter taste, he was proud of his players for the season they had.

“You don’t win 25 games in 5A unless you’re pretty good,” Baudry said. “These guys had an excellent season. At the end, only one team holds up the trophy. We had a group of fighters. I can’t be anything but satisfied with the way our team competed this season.”

HHS loses four seniors to graduation from this year’s squad: Hargis, Braxton Dufrene, Peyton Keller and Pat Phelan. Baudry said they set the kind of example that will pay off for years to come.

“Those four guys brought a tremendous, tremendous work ethic that they’ve passed on by example to our younger players,” Baudry said. “If we can continue to build on that, we’ll be right back in position to make a run at this time next year.”

 

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