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Opelousas Catholic led Houma Christian 6-0 after four innings in the winner-take-all game three of the Division IV State Playoffs.
Luckily for Houma Christian, a regulation high school baseball game is played over seven innings and not just four.
On the brink of elimination, the Christian Warriors exploded on Saturday, soaring for six runs in the fifth inning, then nine more in the sixth to cruise to a thrilling 15-6 comeback victory.
The rally marked the ending to a quality series between two solid programs. The Warriors won game one 3-0 on Friday, then lost the first game of the day on Saturday 7-3, which set up the winner-take-all matchup.
In victory, Houma Christian advances to Sulphur for the second-straight year.
They will take on No. 1 St. John, which swept CCA over the weekend, beating the Lions 5-4 in the first game, then 8-0 in the second game on Friday.
Houma Christian has faced St. John once this season – back on March 10.
St. John won that game 3-2.
The Christian Warriors hope to flip the outcome – just like they flipped the outcome of this past weekend’s series with a huge, late-game surge.
It started off drama-free for Houma Christian.
They won game one of the series on Friday night without drama – using a pair of home run balls to storm out to the series lead.
LSU signee Gavin Dugas drew the first blood with a moonshot dinger over the left field fence, which gave Houma Christian a 2-0.
Dugas had a monster series and has had a huge postseason for Houma Christan – a nightmare for opposing pitchers to face.
With the lead, Houma Christian added another on a homer from McCade LeBlanc to go up 3-0 in the sixth inning.
Those runs were plenty enough for pitcher Brock Theriot, who went the distance on the bump without allowing a run.
On Saturday, things got a little bit wild.
Opelousas Catholic shook off the tough loss in style, winning 7-3 on Saturday morning to even the series and one game apiece.
They then looked poised to win the series, storming out to the 6-0 lead in the middle stages of the game.
But they ran out of pitching.
In the team’s third game in less than 24 hours, Opelousas Christian didn’t have enough arms to withstand it all, falling at the mercy of the powerful Warriors bats.
From the top of the order to the bottom of the order, Houma Christian caught fire, sparked again by a dinger from Dugas in the sixth, which was the icing on the cake.
After the game, Houma Christian coach Stephen Martinez said his program takes pride in competing every inning and every pitch. He added that he always knew his team was capable of making a surge and pushing into the Semifinals.
Last year, Houma Christian was the No. 10 seed in Division IV and scored an upset win over No. 2 Cedar Creek to push to Sulphur. While there, the Warriors lost 3-0 to Ascension Episcopal – the eventual state champions.
Houma Christian will face St. John today at 11:30 a.m. on Field 40 at the McMurry Park complex in Sulphur.
If they win, they’ll play again on Friday at 7 p.m. on Field 37 at the complex against the winner of the game between Ascension Catholic and Ouachita Christian.
ELSEWHERE IN THE AREA
Houma Christian was all smiles after the weekend of baseball.
Other locals were not.
As mentioned above, CCA lose to St. John in two games in the Division IV State Playoffs, ending the Lions’ season two wins short of Sulphur.
Others missed it by just one game.
In Class 4A, South Lafourche won game one of its series with West Ouachita 3-1, thanks to the powerful left arm of senior pitcher Blake Ougel.
But without Ougel available on Saturday, the Chiefs found their stride, winning game two 6-0, then game three 11-1 to secure the series.
In defeat, the Tarpons tout that they have nothing but pride for their season.
Before this year, South Lafourche had never won a playoff game in program history. This year, they won four under first-year coach Andrew Ravaglia, who said he couldn’t be prouder of his team for the effort.
“I love these kids,” Ravaglia said. “I’d go to battle with them any day. To win that many games, to make it this far in the playoffs and to finish as our district runner-up, I don’t even know if these kids would have thought that was possible at the beginning of the year. But it’s all a credit to them. They did the work. They deserve the success.”
In Division II, E.D. White also bowed out of the postseason one win short of Sulphur, falling to No. 1 University Lab.
The Cardinals won game one of the series 4-3 to secure an early advantage over the powerful Cubs.
But U-Lab battled back on Friday and Saturday, winning game two 5-0, then game three 8-2 to advance to the next round.
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