Broncos scratch out victory
Rodrick Anderson
MOSS BLUFF — The Sam Houston Broncos closed out a tight District 3-5A baseball series against Lafayette Saturday by scraping out a 5-3 win at home.
“They are a lot better than what people think they are,” Sam Houston head coach Chad Hebert said of the Lions. “If you catch the (Grant) Fontenot kid, he can beat anybody.
“They gave us the game on Thursday, to be honest. Today, I felt like we hit a lot of balls hard that got caught and did just enough to win. (Lafayette) played well. They are going to upend some people here before district is over.”
Sam Houston (22-3, 5-1) won the first game of the series 2-1 on Thursday and will take a five-game win streak into its home game Tuesday with New Iberia. The Broncos, ranked No. 2 in the most recent Class 5A power ratings, look to finish strong with three weeks left in the regular season.
“Like every year, we try to get in those top-four seeds so we don’t have to travel in the playoffs,” Hebert said. “Right now we are there, and we just have to hold pat.”
The Broncos scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie. Jordan Thompson scored the go-ahead run on a Ashton Fusilier double and the Broncos got an insurance run on a passed ball.
“We finally dropped a few in and scored enough early and late to be up enough to win,” Hebert said.
Broncos starting pitcher Andrew Glass struck out seven batters and walked two but left the game with two outs in the fourth inning with the score tied 3-3 after Fontenot hit a two-run home run. Dylan Thibodeaux got a fly out to end the Lions’ (6-15, 3-3) rally and retired three of the four batters he faced and picked off the other to earn the win. Alex Norris pitched a scoreless seventh inning to earn the save.
“(Thibodeaux) has been money for us all year,” Hebert said. “Alex starts and relieves. We try to keep his pitch count down as much as we can during the week. It is good to have him at the end of a game.”
Sam Houston grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a solo home run by Glass and Carson Devillier’s two-out RBI single.
Lafayette cut into Sam Houston’s lead in the third inning on a squeeze bunt.
The Broncos added a run in the bottom of the fourth inning on Trevor Jones’ sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead.
Lafayette’s Bryson Broussard took the loss after allowing five runs, four of them earned, on five hits in four innings.
Carson Devillier hits an RBI single in the first inning of Sam Houston’s 5-3 win over Lafayette Saturday in Moss Bluff.
Sam Houston reliever Dylan Thibodeaux delivers a pitch against Lafayette during a District 3-5A game Saturday in Moss Bluff. Thibodeaux threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win.