Erath Bobcats slam BTW 9-2 in 1st round

ERATH — Facing a first-round opponent about whom they knew little didn’t slow the Erath High Bobcats for long.
The seventh-seeded Bobcats scored a single run in the first inning, then scored in four of the next five innings to roll to a 9-2 win over No. 29 seed Booker T. Washington of New Orleans in a Class 3A bi-district playoff game Tuesday at Ross Granger Field.
Erath (17-17) will play host to No. 10 seed Loranger starting Friday in a best-of-three regional playoff series. Loranger beat No. 23 Caldwell Parish 4-2 Tuesday.
“The first round is always the toughest,” EHS coach Jeremy Picard said. “I mean, we couldn’t really find any information on this opponent. These kids have never experienced a home playoff game, so kind of a lot of things factored in, but at the end of the day, our kids played hard, they found a way to win, and it allowed us to move on to the next round.”
Erath took advantage of eight walks and had eight hits, four by leadoff hitter Coy Broussard. Seth Leger also had two hits and two RBIs, and Sage Suire and Trevor Huval added singles.
The Bobcats got on the board with a bases-loaded walk issued to Huval in the bottom of the first. Erath added three runs in the second, two in the third, two in the fifth and one in the sixth while giving up only two runs in the fourth, one of them earned.
“That’s our (style of) baseball,” Picard said. “We were able to put pressure (on them). We laid some bunts down early, took some pitches, walked some guys, and then pressure led to one thing, one thing led to another and it allowed us to score some runs and allowed our kids to breathe and just play the baseball game.”
Broussard started on the mound and pitched 5 1/3 innings for the win, striking out seven and walking five while allowing three hits and two runs. Jadon Soirez pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, striking out four and not allowing a single runner to reach base.
“Our pitchers did a great job. Coy’s been good all year long, and Jadon came in and did what he does — throw strikes and give us a chance to win, and allowed us to set up our one and two (pitchers) for Friday and Saturday, so that was good for us as well,” Picard said.
Edric Williams led the visiting Lions (11-6-1) at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Rochon Mackie added a single. Mackie also took the loss on the mound, giving up five runs on six hits and six walks.
The coach said that despite an error that helped Booker T. Washington score in the fourth inning, Erath has been playing well defensively.
“Probably the last 15 games or so, we’ve been playing really good defensively,” he said. “Early on, we struggled. It took a while, but we figured some things out and our guys have been playing really well.”
Picard said his team would need to do the same things that made them successful against BTW to win in the second round.
“We’ve been playing well as of late,” he said. “Our pitchers have been throwing strikes and giving our defense a chance. We’re putting pressure on teams, playing small ball, and then getting that key hit when it counts. If we continue to do what we’ve been doing of late, I think we have a good shot.”
Erath plays Loranger (19-13) at 6 p.m. Friday in the first game and at noon Saturday. The teams play again at 2:30 p.m. Saturday if necessary.