Hogs fall short in Babe Ruth World Series

Just last season, Houma’s South-land Hogs were at the top of the Legion baseball standing, playing for the league’s championship. Little did they realize that that would be the last time, as the league in which the team had played in the last 15 years would soon disband due to lack of interest.

No worries, the team is still the “top hogs,” just of a new league – the Babe Ruth 16-18 League.

The team consists of a mix of high school athletes from the Tri-parish area: Brock Hebert, Carl LeBlanc, Michael Barba, Alex Prestenbach and Kurt Charpentier from South Terrebonne; H.L. Bourgeois’s Jake Fabre, Brock Landry and Corey St. Germaine; E.D. White’s Justin Ledet, Jacob Knight and Dale Ponville; Craig Pellegrin, Cullen Babin and Timmy Boudreaux from Ellender Memorial; Evan Mistich, Lane Dupre and Jeff DeBlieux from Vandebilt Catholic; Terrebonne’s Brien Dela Houssaye; Thibodaux’s Clint Dempster and Houma Christian’s Jordan Trosclair.

Their first season in their new league came to an end on Thursday night after the team lost 9-3 in a semifinals game against Modesto, Calif., in the Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series Tournament held in Newark, Ohio.

The Hogs earned a spot in the World Series after clinching the state title and then defeating Tri-County, Texas in the Regional Series in El Dorado, Ark., on July 22.

The first game in their World Series bid was against Calgary, Canada, on Aug. 7, and the Hogs started strong, beating the team 9-2. But the Hogs would face an uphill climb after losing to Portland 6-3 the next day.

Two more wins, 6-3 over Cape Cod, Mass., on Aug. 10 and 12-2 over Hammond, Ind., on Aug. 11, made the Hogs eligible for the six-team single elimination championship bracket.

Again, the team started strong, defeating Long Island, N.Y., on a walk off home run by former Vandebilt star Evan Mistich in the first game of the bracket.

This win moved the Southland Hogs onto their semifinal loss against Modesto.

Modesto would then lose to Portland in the championship game.

“We didn’t get to rematch them in the finals, but I felt we could of beaten Portland,” assistant coach Terrel Hebert said. “We had some unfortunate calls in our first game, which forced us to throw over the plate. They were head and shoulders above everyone else but not us. I really felt we could have beaten them had we gotten to the championship.”

Despite not achieving their goal of winning it all, the Hogs take their first year in Babe Ruth as a learning experience.

“These guys know what it takes now to get here and they know the level of competition,” Hebert said. “It won’t be easy because we’re in a very wide open region, but after this experience, we are certainly anxious to get back to work.”