Trojans seal district championship with wins

Wins in the last two ball games against St. Ed’s and Catholic of Pointe Coupee have propelled the Sacred Heart Trojans to the district 5-1A championship. The Trojans went through league play with a perfect 6-0 record. The wins against the Blue Jays and the Hornets push Sacred Heart’s overall record to 24-3. The Trojans currently occupy the number two seed in the LHSAA power rankings. Here are the summaries for the two games played.

Sacred Heart
vs. St. Ed’s

On Thursday, Sacred Heart traveled to Eunice to take on long time rival, St. Ed’s. The Trojans took control of the game early and never looked back in a 7-4 victory. The Trojans began scoring in the very first inning. Caleb Soileau reached first on a one-out walk. The next batter, Brandon Hudspeth, drove a 1-1 pitch into leftfield for a triple, plating Soileau. Soileau then took the hill in the bottom of the first and promptly retired the Blue Jays in order.
The Trojans continued the offensive production in the top of the second, scoring three runs to take the 4-0 lead. The big hit, a double by Keaton Tate, aided Sacred Heart in the inning. The Blue Jays had no response in the bottom of the second.
Neither team could put any runs across the plate in the third inning. However, the Trojans were able to extend their lead to 5-0 in the top of the fourth, when Evan Mire scored on a Garrick Fontenot single. The five run advantage remained, as Soileau continued his dominance over the Blue Jay hitters, shutting out St. Ed’s in the bottom of the inning.
Sacred Heart, for all intents and purposes, put the game away in the top of the fifth inning, tacking on two more runs. Jacob L. Lafleur and Jacob Dupre both crossed home plate to put the Trojans up 7-0. St. Ed’s did manage to score their first runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs to cut the lead the Sacred Heart lead to 7-2. The Blue Jays added another two runs in the seventh inning, but were shut down before they could get any momentum going.
Soileau pitched a gem of a game for the Trojans, going six and one-third innings, allowing four runs on four hits, while striking out six. Leading the way at the plate for Sacred Heart was Fontenot, who was two for two with a run batted in and a run scored.

Sacred Heart
vs. Catholic of P.C.

Another district road game on Friday took the Trojans to New Roads for a league battle with the Catholic of Pointe Coupee Hornets. What turned out to be a close ball game up until the late innings, the Trojans exploded for nine runs in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie and collect the win. Sacred Heart will now step out of district and travel to Kinder to battle the Yellow Jackets tomorrow, weather permitting Game time is set for 2 p.m.
Both teams jump started their offenses rather quickly. The Trojans plated two runs in the top of the first, as Keaton Tate and Brandon Hudspeth scored to put Sacred Heart up 2-0. The Hornets responded in the bottom of the inning, plating two runs of their own to tie the game at 2-2.
A plethora of goose eggs found their way to the scoreboard the next four innings, as the two teams could not keep the offensive production going. With the score stuck at 2-2, Sacred Heart erupted in the top of the sixth inning for nine runs. The Trojans used six hits, including three doubles, and three walks to extend their lead to 11-2.
Sacred Heart starting pitcher Phillip Vidrine remained relentless in his performance, blanking the Hornets until being relieved in the seventh by Jacob A. Lafleur. The Trojans took advantage of Hornet pitching in the top of the seventh, plating their last two runs of the ball game. Lafleur shut down Catholic in the bottom of the seventh to close out the game.
Vidrine went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits, striking out eight and walking two. Lafleur pitched one inning of relief, giving up zero runs on zero hits and struck out one. Caleb Soileau was two for four at the plate, while Jacob L. Lafleur went two for three for the Trojans.