John Burson
In the battle for the District 5-3A championship, Iota High earned a two-game sweep over the Eunice Bobcats.
The Bulldogs rallied back from an early seven run deficit to claim a 9-7 victory over the Bobcats in the first game of a two game series.
Eunice grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning with Austin Phillips hitting a triple with one out against Bulldog starting pitcher Tristen Miller.
Josh Youngblood drew a walk and Tyler Darbonne doubled to score Phillips.
Youngblood and Darbonne would later score to put the Bobcats up 3-0.
The Bobcats added two runs in the second inning as Ian George drew a walk and Phillips was hit by a pitch.
Youngblood’s double brought home both runs as the Cats increased their lead to 5-0.
The Cats made it 7-0 in the third inning as Grant Fontenot and Seth Venable each singled and scored on a triple off the bat of George.
The Bulldogs fought back by scoring three runs in the third inning off Bobcat starting pitcher Jayden Brasseaux.
Key hits in the inning came from Hunter Wribrog on a two-run single and a run-scoring single by Andrew Ashby to cut the lead to 7-3.
Devin Mouton came on in the fourth inning to relief Miller and kept the Bobcats from scoring over the final four innings.
The Bulldogs added two more runs off Brasseaux in the sixth inning after Ashby and Kam Aucoin began the inning with singles that forced a Bobcat pitching change to Grant Fontenot.
The Bulldogs added four more runs in the inning with Trae Rambin’s two-run double and Mouton’s triple giving Iota a 9-7 victory.
On Wednesday, the second of the two-game series was played at Bobcat Field, but the Bulldog bats stayed strong in the top of the first inning.
Will Doughty singled against Eunice starter Ian George and Miller doubled.
Both runners scored on Wriborg’s double for a 2-0 lead.
The Bulldogs added four more runs in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead.
The Bobcats scored a run in the bottom of the second inning.
Tyler Darbonne opened the inning with a single and moved to second base on a groundout.
Darbonne scored on a single by Seth Venable. Wriborg kept the Bobcats from scoring in the third, fourth, and fifth innings.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs continued to add to their lead with three runs in the third and two more in the fourth to take a 12-1 lead.
The game ended after five innings due to the ten run rule.
Wriborg earned the win as he allowed one earned run on four hits with fourt strikeouts over five innings.
Wriborg also went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI.
Will Doughty went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and three runs scored.
Kameron Aucoin went 3-for-3 with a RBI, while Tristan Miller went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Mitchell Lege finished 2-for-3 with a RBI.
Seth Venable went 2-for-2 with a RBI to lead the Bobcats.