Broncos advance to quarterfinals

MOSS BLUFF–If you expected a good game between the No. 1 Sam Houston Broncos and No. 16 Vandebilt Catholic Terriers (20-12), you got what you bargained for and so much more.

The Broncos scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to secure a spot in the Class 4A quarterfinals in a 4-3 win over Vandebilt on Tuesday night.

Sam Houston (28-4) went into the sixth trailing 3-1 after missing opportunities to get runs on the board in the previous two innings.

Philip Menou led of the sixth inning working the Terriers’ pitcher Austin Hebert for a walk.

“I wanted to hit the ball so bad,” Menou said. “I had to stay under control and take what they give me. A lead off walk is huge in that kind of situation and I did what I had to do.”

Chase Joubert followed with a single up the middle, and Steven Gauthreaux laid down a bunt single down the third baseline to load the bases for the Broncos with no outs. Blake Felts, a courtesy runner for Menou, came home on a fielder’s choice to the shortstop by Dyllon Johnson to bring Sam Houston within one run, 3-2.

The drama really started to heat up during Andrew Lafosse’s at bat. Vandebilt catcher Sam Pitre attempted to get Donovan Landry, courtesy runner for Joubert, out at third but overthrew the ball and allowed Landry to score and tie the game 3-3. On the play, Johnson was able to move from first to third. Lafosse worked a walk from Herbert to set up runners at first and third with one out.

The Terriers switched pitchers to pitch to Skylar Barrentine. Stephen Martinez took the hill and forced Barrentine to fly out to shallow right centerfield behind second base. After  Vandebilt had recored the out, Lafosse tagged and attempted to take second base and was caught in a run down. While Lafosse had the middle infield occupied, Johnson took home to record the winning run for the Broncos.

“At first there was nobody on second base,” Lafosse said. “So I was hoping to take second base. Once he started running at me and threw the ball, I knew Dyllon was going to score.”

The Terriers took an early 3-0 advantage on Sam Houston in the first two innings led by a first inning Martinez two-run homer to left field.

“That kid was an animal,” Menou said on Martinez. “He had a great at bat and I just missed my spot. I had a little trouble finding the strike zone early in the game. But when I did find the zone, they put the ball in play.”

Menou gave credit to the defense behind him that got him out of jams including a double play that ended the first inning.

“The defense did an awesome job of making the plays behind me,” continued Menou. “Defense was a big contributor to this game. It was a total team effort.”

The Broncos scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the second when Johnson drove home Gauthreaux with a double to deep left field to make the score 2-1 after two innings of play.

The Terriers added a run in the third inning when Ross Robichaux hit a single to right to bring home T.J. Freeman to take a 3-1 Vandebilt lead.

Menou said that he was worried when Vandebilt took the lead, but remained confident in his team.

“I had some concern,” said Menou. “It ain’t over until the seventh inning. We executed one of our plays on the double tag and it got us ahead. The little things win you in the game of baseball.”

Sam Houston has had a tradition of scoring in bunches, and had their opportunities in the fourth and fifth innings when they left a total of four runners stranded.

“We had some situations when I thought it would happen,” Broncos’ head coach Brad Book. “We struggled getting the lead off runners on, and every time we got runners in scoring position their guy (Hebert) kicked it up to another level. He was so tough. He would get the double play, the weak fly ball, and it was tough for us to score runs in bunches.”

Menou (10-0) picked up the win for Sam Houston allowing three runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.

“He battled extremely well,” Book said on Menou. “I thought it was a gutsy performance.”

Joubert and Gautreaux led the Broncos at the plate while have 2-for-3 efforts at the plate. Johnson added a 1-for-3 performance while scoring the winning run.

Martinez went 1-for-3 at the plate for Vandebilt with two RBI’s and Robichaux went 1-for-4 with one RBI.

Hebert (8-3) took the loss pitched five and one third innings while being charged for four runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Sam Houston will travel to either No. 24 Minden or No. 8 Holy Cross in the Class 4A quarterfinal round of the playoffs.