EHS finishes 2-2 at 2019 Prep Classic

MONROE – The Eunice High Bobcats completed their annual trip to the Trey Altick Louisiana Baseball Prep Classic with two wins and two losses.
The Bobcats opened play against the Jena Giants in a contest held at the Sterlington Baseball Complex.
The Bobcats took an early lead as Grant Fontenot tripled to lead off the first inning. Fontenot scored on a Austin Phillips single.
Phillips later scored to give the Cats a 2-0 lead.
The Giants answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of two errors by the Bobcats, tying the game at 2-2.
The Cats regained the lead by scoring three runs in the second inning.
Deandre Courville’s bunt opened the inning and Tyler Darbonne’s double gave the Cats a 5-2 lead, but the Cats were unable to maintain their advantage, allowing Jena to eventually claim a 12-8 victory.
Eunice bounced back from their loss to Jena by claiming a 16-0 victory over the Loranger Wolves in a game played at Ouchita High School.
Eunice starting pitcher Grant Fontenot dominated the Wolves in a four-inning mound outing.
Fontenot limited the Wolves to one hit and no runs while striking out three before being relieved by Seth Deshotel.
The Cats gave their pitchers all the support they needed in the early going, with Braiden Rider opening the inning with a single and Jaheim Mitchell drawing a walk.
Chris Suire’s bunt advanced both runners before Courville’s sacrifice fly scored Rider. Fontenot later singled scored on an error to give the Cats a 3-0 lead.
Darbonne, Rider, and Luke Andrepont added singles in the fourth inning before Darbonne, Andrepont, Rider, Suire, and Courville put the game away by accounting for four runs in the fifth inning, allowing the Bobcats to take an 11-0 victory.
The Bobcats next headed to Ruston to take on the Pineville Rebels on Ruston’s new turf field.
Braiden Rider took the mound for the Bobcats and managed to overcome a couple of singles and a run before retiring the side.
The Bobcat offense backed their starter in the bottom of the first inning.
Phillips drew a walk and scored on a double off the bat of Seth Deshotel. The Cats added a run in the second inning as Jaheim Mitchell singled, Suire walked, and Courville sacrifice bunt advanced the runners for a 3-0 lead.
Rider shut down the Rebels in the second and third innings and the Cats added to their lead with a five-run outburst in the fourth inning.
Phillips, Darbonne, Andrepont, Suire, Deshotel, and Courville each singled in the inning to give the Cats an 8-2 lead. The Cats managed to add three runs in the sixth inning to claim a 10-4 victory.
The Bobcats moved on to Cedar Creek to take on the Airline Vikings in their final game of the Prep Classic.
Both the Bobcats and the Vikings got off to slow starts offensively with both starting pitchers, Eunice’s Tyler Darbonne and Airline’s Connor Jones keeping the offenses in check over the first two innings.
But the Vikings finally broke through in the fourth inning, scoring five runs, which included home runs by third baseman D. Burrell and catcher H. Travinski.
The Bobcats were led offensively by Austin Phillips, who had two singles. Grant Fontenot singled and scored twice for the Cats. Rider, Andrepont, Deshotel, and Suire had singles for the Bobcats, who lost to the Vikings by an 8-2 margin.
Eunice begins the annual John R. Young/Frey Holding Company baseball tournament at 6;45 p.m. today against South Terrebonne.