The Sulphur Tors held a 3-2 lead early in the game but after a pitching change the Broncos took over to win the final game of the Cameron State Bank/Sulphur Golden Tor Invitational 7-4 over the Tors on Saturday.

Sulphur (11-5) took a 3-2 lead on an RBI double by Evan Harris prompting Sam Houston  (13-3) to replace Andrew Lafosse with Josh Anders.

Anders (4-1) had already picked up a one-hit win earlier in the day over DeRidder and went on to pitch four and one-third innings of two-hit ball. The lone run against Anders came on an infield single by Harris that scored Charlie LeBeouf in the bottom of the fourth inning. Anders struck out five and walked two for his second win of the day.

“Josh pitched earlier for us against DeRidder,” Sam Houston head coach Brad Book said. “He only threw 44 pitches and after the game I asked him how his arm felt and he said ‘Coach I feel like I can pitch seven innings’.

“Josh had a great day.”

Sam Houston took the lead for good in the fourth inning.

The Broncos got four consecutive hits including RBI singles by Skylar Barrentine and Tyler Theriot before two bases loaded walks by Sulphur starting pitcher Tyler McDonald gave the Broncos a 6-3 lead.

“It was just one bad inning,” Sulphur head coach Ron Riley said. “There were a lot of walks and a couple of base hits.

“You cannot throw from behind the count against a good hitting team. We played with them the entire game except for that one inning.”

Steven Pennick came in to relieve McDonald with two outs in the fourth and finished the game for the Tors.

Pennick allowed just one run on four hits in relief but the Tors could not get anything going offensively.

“We had 10 hits last night (Friday) and we managed to get seven hits against Westlake and we had five hits tonight,” Riley said. “I thought they might be coming out of it with 10 hits against Airline but they went right back into the funk.

McDonald picked up his first loss of the season while allowing six runs on eight hits.

Sam Houston took the early lead with a two-out two RBI single by Evan Powell in the top of the first inning but the Tors came back and tied it up in the bottom of the inning.

After three consecutive walks to start the bottom of the first Logan LeJeune hit a single up the middle to score JT Chargois. Kade Guillory tied the game at 2-2 with a sacrifice fly to right field to score Keith Lemelle.

Harris led the Tors at the plate going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Charlie LeBoeuf went 1-for-2 with two runs scored.

Lafosse and Barrentine both went 3-for-5 and Powell finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Sam Houston.

The loss ended a five game winning streak for the Tors but Riley still sees progress. The Tors will return to action on Tuesday when they take on Lafayette at home at 4 p.m.

“I feel like we are making progress defensively,” Riley said. “Our pitching is making tones of progress.

“We had three complete games. I feel good about the pitching and I feel good about the defense. If we are solid in those two phases of the game then we are going to give ourselves opportunities. I think that the hitting will eventually come around.”

Notes: Sam Houston left 15 runners on base in the game. Sulphur turned the game’s only double play to end the top of the seventh inning. Sam Houston, Sulphur and Airline all finished 3-1 in the tournament.

Tors 11, Westlake 2
SULPHUR–The Sulphur Tors picked up their third win of the Cameron State Bank/Sulphur Golden Tor Invitational with an 11-2 victory over the Westlake Rams on Saturday afternoon.

Troy Scott picked up the win for Sulphur (11-4) pitching all seven innings allowing two runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.

Out of the 11 Sulphur runs, five were scored on a Rams’ error, passed ball, or a wild pitch.

The Tors put the game out of reach with a seven runs on only three hits, but Westlake committed two errors in the inning playing a mix of small ball and power hitting.

Logan LeJeune led the Tors with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate with Josh East adding a 1-for-3 performance with a three run homer in the fifth inning.

Sam Houston 11, DeRidder 1
SULPHUR–Sam Houston's Josh Anders came one batter away from a perfect game but settled for a one-hitter in a 11-1 five inning win over DeRidder on Saturday in the Cameron State Bank/Sulphur Tornado Invitational.

Anders had a no-hitter going until the top of the fifth inning when he gave up a leadoff homerun to Chase Kelly. He faced just one batter over the minimum and struck out five.

The game was close through the first three innings as the Broncos held just a 1-0 lead until breaking the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning with eight runs.

All eight of Sam Houston's runs came with two outs as Andrew Lafosse, Skylar Barrentine and Philip Menou hit back-to-back-to-back two RBI singles.

Lafosse and Barrentine finished off the game with consecutive RBI singles in the bottom of the fifth inning to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule.

Barrentine led the Broncos going 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs. Lafosse went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Steven Gauthreaux went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Airline 11,
DeRidder 4
SULPHUR–After a tight four innings of play, the Airline Vikings broke the game open with a four run fifth inning on their way to an 11-4 victory over the DeRidder Dragons.

The Vikings took an early 1-0 lead in the third, but DeRidder tied the game in the bottom of the fourth at one run apiece.

With one out in the top of the fifth inning, the Vikings played station to station baseball with three straight singles on their way to a four run inning on five hits stranding only one run.

Airline added another three runs in the sixth and the seventh to finish the games with 11 runs on 16 hits.

Taylor Henry picked up the win for Airline with two strikeouts while allowing only one run on seven DeRidder hits.

Connor Nichols led the Vikings with a 3-for-4 performance with three RBI’s.

DeRidder’s Rashad Robertson led the Dragons with a 3-for-4 effort with an RBI.

Notes: Airline head coach Toby Todd is a former Sulphur High assistant baseball coach.

Friday
Sulphur 10, Airline 0
SULPHUR–J.T. Chargois pitched a complete game allowing only one hit in a 10-0 victory over the Airline Vikings in the Tors second game of the Cameron State Bank/Sulphur Golden Tor Invitational on Friday night.

Chargois had six strikeouts with two walks in the shutout victory.

The Tors (10-4) struck for five runs in the fourth inning then added a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth to allow the ten run mercy rule to take effect.

Evan Harris went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Tors with three RBI’s. Josh East added a 2-for-3 effort with two RBI’s.

Airline 4,
Sam Houston 2
WILLIAM SOMMERS
Special to the SW Daily

SULPHUR–The Airline Vikings capitalized on a couple of Bronco mistakes to earn a 4-2 victory on day two of Cameron State Bank/Sulphur Golden Tor Invitational. 

The game was a true pitcher's duel as Airline's big lefty kept the potent Bronco attack in check with an assortment of curveballs and changeups.  Bronco's starting pitcher Grant Cox matched the Viking hurler with outstanding stuff of his own allowing only five hits in six and one-third innings while giving up three unearned runs.

Airline scored two runs in the fourth inning but the Broncos tied it up in the fifth.

In the 5th inning, the Broncos tied the score as Steven Gauthreaux got the Broncos going with a single.  He advanced on a balk call then after a strikeout, LaFosse got his second hit of the game.  Skylar Barrentine then hit his fourth double in two games driving in both Bronco runners to tie the game. 

In the fateful seventh inning, the first Viking hit a single and advanced to second on the fourth Viking sacrifice bunt of the game.  Cox was then replaced by Cody Rider who gave up a single to the first batter he faced putting Vikings on the corners.  The Vikings then called for the squeeze play but the bunt was hit in the air and hit the heel of the Bronco's 1st baseman's glove allowing a Viking run.  The next Viking batter hit a tough ball to short that could've been an inning ending double play but it ended up as an error at short and another Viking runner scored. 

Sam Houston got out of the inning but went down in order in the bottom of the seventh for a tough 4-2 loss.