John Burson
Eunice senior shortstop Austin Phillips hit a walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh as the Bobcats rallied for a 5-4 win over Port Barre in the Bi-District round of the Class 3-A baseball playoffs.
Eunice will travel to No. 6 Loranger (20-12) Friday for a a best-of-three game regional series.
The Wolves defeated Jewell Sumner 15-5 to open the playoffs.
The Bobcats fell behind in the first inning as the Red Devils scored three runs against Eunice starting pitcher Grant Fonteno.
Fontenot retired leadoff hitter Alec Martinez, issued a walk but then retired Cody Fontenot on a flyout.
Ethan Hidalgo drew a walk and stole second base.
Hidalgo later scored on back-to-back singles to take a 3-0 lead.
The Cats struggled in the early going against Hidalgo, who retired Fontenot and Austin Phillips before issuing a walk to Tyler Darbonne.
Hidalgo ended the inning by retiring Seth Deshotel on a flyout.
Fontenot struck out the first two batters he faced in the second inning before Martinez singled. Fontenot recorded the last out of the inning on a flyout to left field.
Hidalgo answered by retiring the Cats in order in the third inning. The Red Devils added a run off Fontenot in the fourth inning to increase their lead to 4-0 on a run-scoring single by Martinez.
In the Eunice fourth, Hidalgo retired Phillips on a flyout to open the inning, but Tyler Darbonne and Deshotel each worked walks against Hidalgo, but the Red Devil pitcher ended the threat by retiring Luke Andrepont on a groundout.
Fontenot recovered from his early troubles in the top of the fifth inning, retiring the side in order.Fontenot’s effort seemed to spark the Cats.
After retiring Dylan darbonne on a strikeout, Hidalgo gave up a single by Eunice catcher Zach Suire.
Jahiem Mitchell followed with a single and Deondre Courville scored both runners on a single to cut the Port Barre lead to 4-3.
Fontenot followed with a single but was left stranded when Phillips flied out to end the inning. Hidalgo responded by retiring the side in order in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Fontenot responded by retiring the side in order in the top of the seventh.
Dylan Darbonne doubled to open the seventh inning for the Bobcats and Kole Grouvillia was called on to pinch run.
Suire and Mitchell were retired, but Courville drew a walk.
Fontenot singled to score Grouvillia and Austin Phillips singled to score Courville with the winning run.
Both pitchers worked seven innings. Fontenot gave up three hits and four runs (two earned).
He walked four and struck out four.
Hidalgo went 6 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits and five runs (4 earned), He walked four and struckout five.
Top hitters for the Bobcats included Fontenot with two hits and a RBI.
Courville finished with two RBI and a single.
Dylan Darbonne doubled and Phillips had the game-winning single to end the game.