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It looked like both teams were settling in for a battle till the end after a 2-2 tie through one inning of play but Zachary’s Zach Von Rosenberg took the game over leading the Broncos to a 5-2 win over the Sam Houston Broncos for their third consecutive 4A state title at Fair Grounds Field in Shreveport on Friday.
For Von Rosenberg, it was his fourth consecutive start in a championship game and his fourth win. He was also named the game MVP for the fourth consecutive time. Von Rosenberg was the winning pitcher for Zachary in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 4A title games and pitched Barbe to a 2-1 win over Sulphur as a freshman in the 2006 5A championship game.
“It doesn't hit you until about a week later,” Zachary head coach Jesse Cassard said. “To put the icing on the cake, Zach pitches four straight championship games.
“Ben Hernandez made plays tonight and we got big hits when we needed to. All of the sudden it was 2-0 and about to blow it out and they tie it up. Then Zach locked in and put up six more zeros.”
For Sam Houston, it was their best finish since winning the 4A title in 2001. Despite losing several seniors to graduation after this season, Sam Houston head coach Brad Book did not rule another deep playoff run next year.
“I think that it is amazing that our kids can walk off the field with class,” Book said. “I am really proud of them.
“We accomplished every goal for the season except for one. We played extremely well tonight and they competed hard. We will have a lot of new faces next year but we had a lot of young guys contribute to this team. The JV program was very successful this year. For a lack of a better word they were dominant. I would not count next year's group out whatsoever.”
Zachary started off with a bang in the top of the first inning when Joe Martin led off with a triple to left field and Ben Hernandez followed with an RBI double.
Von Rosenberg hit a triple to right field to give Zachary a 2-0 lead. But before Zachary could do any more damage, Sam Houston right fielder Dyllon Johnson caught a fly ball by Cam Pierce and gunned pinch runner Cary Myers at the plate for a double play and Keith Rosenbach flied out to end the top of the first.
It looked like both teams were settling in for a battle till the end after a 2-2 tie through one inning of play but Zachary’s Zach Von Rosenberg took the game over leading the Broncos to a 5-2 win over the Sam Houston Broncos for their third consecutive 4A state title at Fair Grounds Field in Shreveport on Friday.
For Von Rosenberg, it was his fourth consecutive start in a championship game and his fourth win. He was also named the game MVP for the fourth consecutive time. Von Rosenberg was the winning pitcher for Zachary in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 4A title games and pitched Barbe to a 2-1 win over Sulphur as a freshman in the 2006 5A championship game.
“It doesn't hit you until about a week later,” Zachary head coach Jesse Cassard said. “To put the icing on the cake, Zach pitches four straight championship games.
“Ben Hernandez made plays tonight and we got big hits when we needed to. All of the sudden it was 2-0 and about to blow it out and they tie it up. Then Zach locked in and put up six more zeros.”
For Sam Houston, it was their best finish since winning the 4A title in 2001. Despite losing several seniors to graduation after this season, Sam Houston head coach Brad Book did not rule another deep playoff run next year.
“I think that it is amazing that our kids can walk off the field with class,” Book said. “I am really proud of them.
“We accomplished every goal for the season except for one. We played extremely well tonight and they competed hard. We will have a lot of new faces next year but we had a lot of young guys contribute to this team. The JV program was very successful this year. For a lack of a better word they were dominant. I would not count next year's group out whatsoever.”
Zachary started off with a bang in the top of the first inning when Joe Martin led off with a triple to left field and Ben Hernandez followed with an RBI double.
Von Rosenberg hit a triple to right field to give Zachary a 2-0 lead. But before Zachary could do any more damage, Sam Houston right fielder Dyllon Johnson caught a fly ball by Cam Pierce and gunned pinch runner Cary Myers at the plate for a double play and Keith Rosenbach flied out to end the top of the first.
As quickly as Zachary took the lead Sam Houston came back and tied the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Andrew Lafosse drew a walk to start the Broncos at bat and with one out, Tyler Theriot put the ball deep into left field for a double to score Lafosse.
After another out, Sam Houston’s Grant Cox dropped a single into shallow right field to score Theriot and tie the game at 2-2.
But the next six innings were all Von Rosenberg as he held the Broncos scoreless including getting out of a jam in the fourth and fifth innings both times with one of his 10 strikeouts.
Sam Houston was able to load the bases with two outs in the fourth inning after Von Rosenberg hit two batters and a Johnson single but Blake Felts struck out looking to end the inning.
Singles by Lafosse and Evan Powell in the bottom of the fifth gave Sam Houston two on with two outs and again Von Rosenberg responded with a strikeout.
Cox settled down after the first inning and held Zachary scoreless for two innings before an error in the fourth gave Zachary the lead for good.
Rosenbach reached base on a fielding error to start the fourth and move to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ryan Manuel before Hosea Anderson drove him home on a single with two outs.
With two on and one out in the top of the sixth, Bond Babin hit a double off reliever Cody Rider to score two runs and give Zachary a 5-2 lead.
Sam Houston then brought in Philip Menou who pitched the Broncos to a semifinal win over Eunice on Thursday. Menou went one and two-thirds innings while striking out two, walking one and hitting one batter but Sam Houston could not get anything going offensively in the final two innings.
Zachary 5, Sam Houston 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7- R H E
Zachary 2 0 0 1 0 2 0- 5 9 0
Sam Houston 2 0 0 0 0 0 0- 2 5 1
Pitching: Zachary–Zach Von Rosenberg 7IN, 2ER, 5H, 10K, 1BB, 2HBP. Sam Houston–Grant Cox 5 1/3, 5R, 4ER, 7H, 1K, 2BB, 1HBP; Cody Rider 1H, 1HBP; Philip Menou 1 2/3IN, 1H, 0R, 2K, 1BB, 1HBP.
W–Von Rosenberg, L–Cox
Hitting: Zachary–Joe Martin 1-for-2, 1R, triple; Ben Hernandez 1-for-1, RBI; Zach Von Rosenberg 1-for-4, RBI, triple; Ryan Manuel 1-for-1, double; Gabe Von Rosenberg 2-for-4, 1R; Hosea Anderson 2-for-3, RBI, double; Bond Babin 1-for-3, 2RBI.
Records: Sam Houston 30-5, Zachary 28-12-1
