VILLE PLATTE -- The Sacred Heart Trojans are used to grind it out, leave everything on the field wins. And, the last two games have proven that 10 times over.
On Saturday, Sacred Heart rallied for five runs in their last two at-bats to take a wild 14-12 win over the North Vermilion Patriots on the road.
Tuesday afternoon at home, the Trojans put together a three run third inning to overtake the DeRidder Dragons in a 7-5 victory.
With the two wins, Sacred Heart is now 6-2-1 on the season. The lone tie comes against North Vermilion, as the Patriots did not want to finish an extra inning affair that was called due to darkness last Thursday.
In the North Vermilion contest, the Trojans opened the game with three runs in top of the first inning. Dru Scully walked and was moved to second on a Jacob Castille sacrifice bunt. The next two Trojan batters, Christian Duplechin and Gabe Fontenot each drew a base on balls.
Scully scored on a passed ball. Duplechin and Fontenot moved up on a fielder’s choice. An error with Peyton Feutch at the plate scored Duplechin and Fontenot. A strike out ended the scoring for Sacred Heart.
North Vermilion wasted no time in picking up runs of their own. The Patriots took a 6-3 lead, blasting the baseball for three home runs and two doubles in the bottom half of the inning.
Scully gave the Trojans an added run in the top of the second, scoring with Duplechin at the plate.
The Patriots returned the favor in the bottom of the second, picking up two more runs to bring the lead to 8-4.
Sacred Heart would not go away quietly. The Trojans plated three more runs in the top of the third inning to cut the lead down to one run. The big hit, a one out single by Scully, scored two of the three runs in the at-bat.
North Vermilion added to their lead by picking up a single run in the bottom of the third and three more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
In the top of the fifth, Sacred Heart got two huge runs to bring the Patriot advantage down to three, 12-9. After holding North Vermilion scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, the Trojan bats remained on fire in the top of the sixth, as they tacked on what would be the winning runs.
A walk was issued to Bordelon and was followed by back-to-back singles from Feutch and Noah Soileau. Lucas Vallet stroked a double into the gap in left-centerfield, scoring Bordelon and Feutch.
Parker Landreneau bunted Soileau in and moved up Vallet to third base. Vallet would score on a ground out to the second baseman, putting Sacred Heart up for good, 13-12. For good measure, the Trojans added a solo run in the top of the seventh.
On Tuesday, Sacred Heart yielded the first three runs of the game to DeRidder in the first two innings.
The Trojans would get one back in the bottom of the second inning. Drew Bordelon singled to lead things off for Sacred Heart. A fielder’s choice put Bordelon at second base with one out. Cannon Beaver followed with a single, giving the Trojans runners at the corners.
After a pop-up on a bunt attempt, JT Harper smoked a pitch into the gap in left field for a stand up double, plating Bordelon. But, Sacred Heart could not push any more runs across in that at-bat.
The Trojans blanked the Dragons in the top of the third and continued to swing the hot bat in the bottom half of the inning. Dru Scully doubled in the lead off and reached third base on a passed ball.
Alec Gotro singled in Scully and promptly stole second base. After a Christian Duplechin walk, DeRidder recorded their first out of the inning on a strike out.
Cody Shipp strode to the plate and got the Dragon third baseman to throw errantly, scoring Gotro and moving Duplechin to third base. Duplechin would score the third and final run of the inning on a Cannon Beaver single, giving Sacred Heart a 4-3 lead.
The Trojans added a solo run in the following at-bat. With one out and no one on base, Wesley Launey launched a 3-1 pitch over the left field wall to give Sacred Heart a two run cushion.
The Trojans shut down DeRidder once again in the top of the fifth and put some more distance between themselves and the Dragons in the bottom half of the inning, tallying two more runs.
Shipp tacked on the first run of the inning with a solo home run of his own. Cade Manuel singled and was followed by a double off of the bat of Jacob Castille, plating Manuel.
DeRidder tried to make a comeback attempt in the top of the seventh, picking up two more runs, but it was too little too late for the Dragons.
Image
TRACEY JAGNEAUX