Bobcats fall to Sam Houston in 4-3 heartbreaker
By Jamie Anfenson-Comeau
The Eunice High Bobcats’ hopes for a fourth consecutive District 4-4A title took a major hit Thursday as the Sam Houston Broncos forced their way to a 4-3 victory.
“The district championship is still in grasp, but we need help.” Bobcat Head Coach Scott Phillips said afterwards. “DeRidder must beat (Sam Houston), we must beat DeRidder. Then you’d have a three-way tie, and you just go from there.”
If the district championship is split three ways, a coin toss would determine seeding in the playoffs, Phillips said.
“We had a long meeting yesterday, about playing with your heart and giving it everything you’ve got, and I really feel like we left it on the field today. We played as hard as we could possibly play against a very strong ball club,” Phillips added.
Sam Houston (21-7; 7-2) took the lead with two runs in the top of the first inning, but the Bobcats narrowed that lead in the second half with a RBI single from Jacque Frugé.
The Bobcats (15-11; 6-3) charged ahead with two runs in the bottom of the third; Frugé hit a sacrifice fly before Stuart Turner scored on a Sam Houston error to give Eunice the lead.
The Broncos battled back in the top of the sixth, when Philip Menou hit a two-run homer over the center field fence, giving Sam Houston a 4-3 lead.
Eunice rallied in the bottom of the seventh, with runners on second and third and two outs, but Sam Houston closed the door on the Bobcats’ scoring opportunity.
“They had opportunity after opportunity of bases loaded and nobody out, and they didn’t score, and we battled through it,” Phillips said.
“It could have been a totally lopsided game if we didn’t come out ready to compete, so I feel really, really good about that.”
Bronco Phillip Menou took the win for Sam Houston, giving up three runs, one earned, off of nine hits and one walk. Menou struck out four batters in seven innings.
“Their pitcher gutted it out and pitched as good as he could, especially down there in the stretch, he didn’t give us anything to hit,” Phillips said.
“Early in the game he was challenging; late in the game he kept everything off-balance and we really never got a good poke at the ball.”
Austin Young pitched the loss, giving up four earned runs on 10 hits and five walks, while striking out four batters in seven innings.
“I thought my guy didn’t have his best up today, but he gave me everything he had and that was a star performance for him,” Phillips said.
“That was his second loss, and the first game he lost was the first game of the year.”
On Tuesday, the Bobcats continue district play, hosting LaGrange (2-13; 1-6) at 6 p.m.