SULPHUR — One swing of the bat changed everything in the second District 3-5A showdown between Sam Houston and Barbe on Saturday at McMurry Park.

Down 2-1 with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, Sam Houston senior Carson Devillier was clutch with a 3-run single, and the Broncos handed the Bucs their first loss of the season, 4-2.

“Hats off to Carson Devillier,” Sam Houston head coach Chad Hebert said. “He deserved that hit.

“It is great for that senior to have that moment. I couldn’t be more proud of my guys just for the fight.”

Ashton Bultran started the top of the seventh with a single through the left side. Reese Bailey drew a base on balls, and Dylan Thompson was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Devillier, who lined one to right field to give the Broncos (15-1, 5-1) their first lead of the game.

Sam Houston was able to regroup after taking its first loss on Thursday, 3-1 to the Bucs (19-1, 3-1). The Bucs entered the series ranked No. 1 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper national high school poll.

“For two games, I felt like we played pretty good baseball for 13 out of the 14 innings, and we walk out of here with a win,” Hebert said. “That is huge for our program.

“You just got to keep grinding. It is like the big leagues, you get thrown a no-hitter, and you have to flush it and go on. That is what we did. We came back. I thought some things didn’t go our way early. Our guys could have started blaming each other but they didn’t.”

Thompson and Nik Toups held the Bucs to two hits. Toups got the win after pitching three scoreless innings in relief with three strikeouts. Toups had thrown just 50 pitches prior to the two-game series against the Bucs.

“Getting Toups back has been a big spark,” Hebert said. “We win 14 games without him, and now we have him back. That is a big piece of our bullpen. We get a couple of guys back next week.”

It is the third consecutive season that Sam Houston has handed the Bucs their first loss.

“The (Sam Houston) deserved to win,” Barbe head coach Glenn Cecchini said. “They hit the ball, put pressure on us and had great at bats.

“We were one pitch away from winning. You have to give Devillier credit. He squared up a ball. They are really good. (Dylan) Thompson was good, and so was (Nik) Toups. We can really hit, but they shut us down.”

The game was scoreless until the fourth inning then the Bucs took the lead on a two-run single by Grant Trahan.

Barbe starter J.C. Vanek held the Broncos to a pair of runs in six innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. Reliever Seth Hebert took the loss after allowing two runs on one hit in two-thirds of an inning.

Sam Houston cut Barbe’s lead to 2-1 in the fifth inning when Sam Ardoin scored on a double by Thompson.