Bobcats clip Saints

By Tom Dodge on Friday, March 9, 2018

LAKE CHARLES – The Eunice High School Bobcats improved their overall record to 6-5 with a 6-5 victory over the St. Louis Saints in non-district baseball action.
The Bobcats took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Luke Andrepont worked a base-on-balls against Saints’ starting pitcher Drew Blanchard. Andrepont would reach third base on a bunt by Austin Phillips before Josh Youngblood drove in Andrepont with a sacrifice fly. Phillips scored the second run of the inning when Tyler Darbonne grounded out to second base.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Saints cut the lead by one after Blake Granger coaxed a walk from Eunice starting pitcher Ian George. George hit the next batter before getting Logan Gray on a fly out to centerfield. Granger later scored on an RBI by David Nolen before George settled in with two strikeouts to end the inning.
The Bobcats added a run in the second inning for a 3-1 lead. Grant Fontenot drew a walk from Blanchard to open the inning and Seth Venable walked to put runners on first and second. Both runners managed to advance on stolen base, with Fontenot eventually scoring before Blanchard retired the side.
The Bobcats added two additional runs in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, George drew a walk and advanced to second base on a single off the bat of Andrepont. Phillips followed with a double to score both runners to give the Cats a 5-1 advantage.
George protected the lead by retiring the side in order in the bottom of the fourth, but the Cats were unable to add to their lead in the fifth inning, despite a single by Darbonne. George allowed a leadoff double to Saints’ catcher Clay Gaskin in the fifth inning, but recovered to retire the side to end the threat.
In the top of the sixth inning, Venable singled and advanced to second on a bunt by Rider. Venable eventually scored on a single by Andrepont to give the Cats a 5-1 lead, but the Saints would threaten in the bottom of the sixth, with Logan Gray reaching on an error and Nolen getting a single. Another error allowed two runs to score before Grant Cholley and Gaskin each drove in a run to cut the Eunice lead to 6-5 before Andrepont came on in relief to retire the side.
The Cats were set down in order in the top of the seventh, but Andrepont closed the door on the Saints by retiring Nolen and Cholley on fly outs to centerfielder Jayden Brasseaux before getting a groundout for the final out of the game.