Every pitch counts, area teams face last hurdle to state tournament
Published 10:00 am Friday, May 6, 2022
- Barbe's Gavin Guidry struck out 13 batters and pitched a complete game shutout in a 6-0 win over Sam Houston on March 22. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
Top seeds and defending champions Barbe and Rosepine look to take another step on their quests to repeat, while a host of other state tournament challengers hope to reach Sulphur this weekend during the quarterfinal round of the high school state baseball playoffs.
The round consists of best-of-three series for Classes 5A-2A and single-elimination games for Classes 1A, B and C.
In Class 5A, the entire area contingent remains alive. No 1 seed Barbe (35-2) hosts No. 8 St. Amant (31-6), No. 4 Sulphur (30-7) hosts No. 5 Zachary (25-13) and No. 7 Sam Houston (27-7) hits the road to take on No. 2 West Monroe, last year’s runner-up. The Broncos reached the semifinals last year.
Neither Barbe nor Sam Houston has ever lost a best-of-three series since the format was introduced in 2014.
The Bucs are 11-0 in series play, going to Game 3 once. The Broncos are 9-0, all in the past five years. Sam Houston lost in the first round each of the first three years the regional and quarterfinal rounds were played as series. Sulphur is 5-2 in series play, winning its last three.
Barbe enters on a 10-game winning streak, during which it has allowed 11 runs with six of the wins by shutout.
Sulphur has won 11 of its last 12, allowing 19 runs in that span. The Tors exploded for 22 runs in last week’s sweep of No. 13 Acadiana.
Sam Houston will face one of the hottest teams in the state as the Rebels have won 26 of 27. The Broncos have won 10 of 12, including a sweep of No. 10 Ruston last week.
Elsewhere
No. 6 Iowa (22-12) is hoping history repeats itself as the Yellow Jackets travel to take on No. 3 Lutcher (28-9). Iowa has won each of its last three series on the road. Lutcher won Game 1 on the road Thursday.
No. 2 Iota (31-3), looking to return to Sulphur for the first time since reaching the Class 2A final in 2018 will host No. 7 Erath (19-17).
In Class 2A, Rosepine (30-2) brings a 26-game winning streak into its series against No. 8 Mangham (25-8). The Eagles have scored 53 runs in three playoffs games, twice scoring more than 20.
Grand Lake (20-6), the 1A runner-up last season and top seed this year, looks to return to Sulphur when it hosts No. 8 Delta Charter (12-11). The Hornets have won eight of their last 10. No. 12 Oberlin (11-15) will host No. 4 Logansport (16-14) on Saturday.
