The Tors’ Bryce Fontenot, right, is greeted at home by Gage Trahan after hitting a two-run home run against Zachary in the bottom of the first inning of a Class 5A quarterfinals game Friday night in Sulphur. (Kirk Meche / Special to the American Press)

SULPHUR — Sulphur sophomore Bryce Fontenot was in a slump in the middle of April, but since the postseason started he has been on fire.

The second baseman hit three home runs Friday as the fourth-seeded Tors opened their Class 5A best-of-the quarterfinals series with an 11-2 win over No. 5 Zachary.

“These two-out-of-three series, you want to come out and win that first game, and we came out and scored a couple of runs early,” Sulphur head coach Sam Moore said. “What can I say about Bryce Fontenot?

“He is the best sophomore I have ever seen.”

Game 2 is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at McMurry Park. Game 3 will start at 4 p.m., if necessary.

In four postseason games, Fontenot is batting .500 with 10 RBIs after going 3-for-5 with five RBIs in Friday’s Game 1. He had one RBI in his last five games of the regular season.

“It felt good,” Fontenot said. “I saw the ball well and I was able to help my team out early. I kept seeing the ball well at night.

“I don’t know what to say. We played amazing. We are swinging the bats well. Jake (Brown) pitched a great, and Braxton (Landry) came in to shut it out. I am really proud of them.”

He opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, then knocked a solo shot off the light pole in left field in the fourth inning to extend the Tors’ lead to 6-2.

He added another two-run moon shot in the fifth that landed deep in the parking lot behind left field.

Zachary (23-14) tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the third inning when Lane Felder hit a triple off the wall in center field to bring home a pair of runs. But the Broncos gifted the Tors (31-7) three runs in the bottom half of the inning on two walks and a hit batsman with the bases loaded.

Brown, a junior pitcher, improved to 8-3 after going six innings with nine strikeouts and four walks. He allowed two runs on four hits. He also hit two doubles and scored on an error in the fifth inning.

“We know Jake gets off to a slow start, but in the middle innings there is nobody better than Jake Brown,” Moore said. “He finds a way to dig deep. He always has stamina. He gave us everything he had; we played great defense and we didn’t let up.”