Bobcats advance to quarterfinals

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LORANGER – Eunice High and Loranger completed their best of three-game regional this past week as the Bobcats grabbed two wins to earn a trip to South Beauregard in a quarterfinal Class 3-A Regional round.
Games are scheduled for a 6 p.m. start today and will continue on Friday with a doubleheader to determine which team will advance to the semifinal round.
South Beauregard earned 7-, 6-3 sweep over Eumice in the 2017 regional round of the playoffs.
The Bobcats advanced to the quarterfimals last season, falling 12-2, 12-3 to the eventual Class 3-A state champion Beriwck.
Both the Bobcats and Wolves struggled in the early going of Friday’s contest, which featured Loranger pitcher Evan Patterson going against Eunice’s Luke Andrepont.
Both pitchers retired the side in the first inning of play and shutout the opposing team from scoring in the second inning.
Both teams recovered in the third inning with each scoring two runs.
Jahiem Mitchell opened the inning with a single but was retired on a fielders’ choice on a bunt by Deondre Courville.
Grant Fontenot singled to advance Courville and both later scored on a single by Austin Phillips and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Tyler Darbonne.
The Wolves responded with a Troy Morel single and a walk to Brandon Graham. Ethan Crayton’s sacrifice fly scored Morel and Graham would score after an error and a hit by pitch to tie the game at 2-2.
The Wolves added to their lead in the fourth inning. Morel and Graham drew walks to open the inning.
Beyl also walked and all three scored on RBI singles by Crrayton, Starkey, and Will Brasher to give the Wolves a 5-2 lead.
The Cats tried to respond in the fifth and sixth inniings. In the fifth, Phillips and Darbonne had back-to-back singles.
Andrepont doubled in the sixth inning but was left stranded as the Wolves claimed the 5-2 win.
The two teams met again on Saturday, with all the pressure on the Bobcats.
Eunice High with Grant Fontenot on the mound, retired the side in order in the top of the first inning.
The Bobcats showed off their offense in the bottom of the first inning, scoring six runs before end of the inning.
Seth Deshotel drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and four other Bobcats drew walks to give the Cats a 6-0 lead.
Fontenot continued to hold down the Wolves, allowing them to only score single runs in the second and fourth innings.
Meanwhile, the Cats continued to add to their lead with three runs in the second inning and six in the third inning to take a 15-2 lead.
Fontenot aided his own cause with a home run in the fourth inning. Fontenot was rellieved by Braiden Rider in the fifth inning.
Fontenot worked four innings, allowed one hit and struck out three.The Bobcats added to their lead with four runs in the fourth inning to claim a 19-2 victory.
In the final game of the three-game series, Tyler Darbonne dominated the Wolves on the mound.
Darbonne worked six and one-third innings. He faced 23 batters, allowed no runs and struckout nine.
He gave up four hits and walked two before being relieved by Grant Fontenot in the sixth inning.
Fontenot retired the last five batters to secure a 2-0 victory.
The Cats scored a single run in the first inning on a single by Philips and a double by Tyler Darbonne.
Fontenot scored the second run on a single by Darbonne in the fifth inning.
Top hitters for the Bobcats in the series included Fontenot (home run and two singles), Phillips (three singles), Tyler Darbonne (triple, double, and single), Dylan Darbonne (double, 2 RBI), Andrepont (single and a double), Seth Deshotel (single, RBI), Mitchell (2 singles), and Courville (double and 2 RBI).