Teurlings Catholic ends Bobcats' season
The Eunice High Bobcats fell 8-2 Tuesday night to second-seeded Teurlings Catholic in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
“We watched a good movie last night talking about baseball, and 80 percent of it is defense, and in a game like this, I thought we played about 30 to 40 percent defense. If you don’t play great defense, you’re not going to win against great teams, and they’re a great team,” Bobcat Coach Scott Phillips said of the Rebels.
“I expect those guys to be in the state tournament, if not win the whole ball of wax, because they’re well-coached, they’ve got great baseball players who really love the game of baseball, and they’re going to be fine,” he added.
Teurlings (29-3) will host Holy Cross Friday in the quarterfinals.
For a time, the game was a lot closer than the final score would indicate.
Teurlings jumped to a 2-0 lead with two RBI sacrifices in the top of the first inning, but starting pitcher Austin Young and the Bobcat defense held the Rebels scoreless for the next three innings.
Eunice (19-14) lit up the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when Mitchell Fuselier doubled to drive in Jacob Fontenot, narrowing Tuerlings’ lead to 2-1.
But things fell apart for Eunice in the top of the fifth, when the Rebels loaded the bases with two outs and drove home two runs.
Young stepped down, and Nick McCoy relieved him, shutting the door on the Rebels’ scoring.
But things got worse in the top of the sixth, as the Rebels went on to score three runs against McCoy and the Bobcat defense, including a solo home run by starting pitcher Taylor Dugas and an RBI double by Alex Fuselier, prompting Phillips to send in Brett Baldwin to close.
A light shone briefly for the Bobcats in the second half, as senior Jacque Fruge ended his high school career with a solo home run, but Eunice was unable to cut the run gap further.
“He ended his season with a home run, and you can’t ask for better than that; that was great,” Phillips said afterwards.
Teurlings’ Nick Richard scored on an error in the top of the seventh, and the Rebels held the Bobcats scoreless in the second half for the win.
Young took the loss for Eunice, giving up four runs, one earned, off of four hits and a walk, while striking out four batters in four-and-two-thirds’ innings.
Dugas earned the win for the Rebels, pitching the first four innings of the game, and giving up one unearned run off of two hits. Dugas struck out five batters.
“It was a good run; it was a fun season and we got a lot out of this season. We got a lot better from where we started,” Phillips said during his post-game comments.
“We got a whole lot out of it. We saw a lot of kids develop, we played four sophomores starting on the field, in 4A if you’ve got four sophomores starting, usually it’s a bad thing, but it turned out to be a good thing for us,” he added.
Phillips said that, given the start his largely-inexperienced team has had this year, they’ll become more formidable as they develop over the next two years.
“My team, we’re young. We’re glad for these kids we have; my two seniors are great kids.
“I’m really going to miss Miles (Fontenot) and Jacque; they’re just two super kids and good leaders,” Phillips said.