Poirrier HRs lift St. Amant in Game 1 over Barbe
Published 9:00 am Saturday, May 7, 2022
- St. Amant celebrates as the Gators welcome Cole Poirrier, No. 10, after the Nicholls State signee hit one of his two home runs against the Bucs during the first game of a Class 5A best-of-three quarterfinals series Friday night at Barbe High School. Poirrier hit a grand slam and a three-run homer. (Rick Hickman / American Press)
Dominant performances by Cole Porrier at the plate and Jacob Mayers on the mound carried St. Amant to a 7-4 win over No. 1 Barbe Friday night in the opening game of a Class 5A quarterfinal best-of-three series.
The series resumes at 1 pm. today. A third game will follow if necessary.
No. 8 St. Amant (32-6) wasted no time getting started, loading the bases on two singles and an error. Porrier blasted a long grand slam to left to put the Gators up 4-0.
Barbe (35-3) got one back in the bottom of the inning when Gavin Guidry walked and scored on a single to left by Blake Moss.
Porrier added to the Gators’ lead in the third, lining a three-run homer over the left-field wall to score Ryder Molea and Brayden Kuriger to extend the lead to 7-1.
Mayers finished with 10 strikeouts in 6⅓ innings.
He was pulled after allowing two walks and a run-scoring single by Crawford Courville in the seventh.
Moss had a single and double in three at-bats. Those were the only hits allowed by Mayers through the first six innings.
Barbe batted around in the bottom of the seventh, scoring three runs on Courville’s single, J.C. Vanek getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and an infield RBI single by Owen Galt.
Gators relief pitcher Dallas Moran got a bases-loaded strikeout to end the game.
Landon Victorian went the distance for Barbe, allowing seven hits and striking out nine. The loss was his first in 17 decisions over two years.
“Their guy had two big hits, that was the ballgame,” Barbe head coach Glenn Cecchini said. “Their pitcher did a great job. I thought Landon pitched better than seven runs shows.
“We should have been out of the first inning. He competed well. I think the team competed to the end. We had a chance at the end. We sent a message: it’s going to be a grind. We still have Gavin Guidry, who’s never lost a game. We have Diego Corrales and Vanek. It won’t be easy but we are going to compete.”
A loss today would mark Barbe’s first loss in a best-of-three series. Barbe has won all 11 playoff series since the format was introduced in 2014.
