Co-district Champs

It was a playoff like atmosphere at the Quality Sports Authority fields in Erath on Thursday night.
After the game on Tuesday night, in which the Patriots won 1-0, they were playing for the outright district title, and the Bobcats were playing for just a split of the district title.
They got just that.
It may have taken the Bobcats a little longer to come back, but they stayed resilient and used the late innings to come from behind for the 5-4 victory of the Patriots.
“It feels great to be able to split the district title,” Erath head coach David Jordan said. “Especially when we had to face another great pitcher in Ryan Meaux. It is the second straight year that we split the title, and it feels great.
“This team has been resilient all season long. We have been down a lot this season, and for them to keep fighting back says a lot about them. So, to win like we did tonight, against a great team like North Vermilion, this is the biggest win we have had all season long.”
The Patriots were the first to get on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning.
The Patriots had the bases loaded and Chance Carriere and Dylan Duhon scored on a fielding error by the Bobcats to give the Patriots the early 2-0 lead.
The Bobcats would bounce right back and answer with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning.
After leading the inning off with a bunt single, Aaron Green found himself on third base when catcher Jace Harrington knocked him in.
Harrington would later score in the inning to knot the game up at 2-2.
The game would only be tied for one batter.
The Patriots sent third basemen Taylor Abshire to the plate, and three pitches into the at-bat he hit a solo home run, his only hit of the game, off of the scoreboard to give the Patriots the lead again at 3-2.
A pitching change, and a couple of innings would go by for both teams, and the score remained the same until the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Bobcats would score three runs in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to Alec Toups, Ben Suire and Aaron Green, to take a lead of 5-3 into the seventh inning.
The Patriots would try to make a comeback in the top of the seventh, when Donald Comeaux scored on an error closing the gap to 5-4.
That’s as close as the Patriots would get as Brett Delcambre closed the door, and the Bobcats won the game 5-4 and split the district 6-3A title with the Patriots.
“It is what it is,” North Vermilion head coach Jeremy Trahan said. “They are a great team, and I think they came out and executed very well. The thing that lost it for us was errors. We made so many mistakes on defense, and you can’t do that against good teams or they will beat you every time.
“I think Ryan (Meaux) pitched a really good game, we just had to pull him because his pitch count got to high, and Seth (Patin) came in and pitched well too. We just got beat by a good team that capitalized on our mistakes. That’s what the good teams do.”
Aaron Green led the way for the Bobcats at the plate.
Green went 1-for-3 with a two RBI single in the sixth inning. He also scored two runs and stole two bases.
Ross Granger started the game for the Bobcats and pitched three and two-thirds innings, and then Brett Delcambre would come in and pitch the remaining three and one-third innings to get the win for the Bobcats.
Ryan Meaux started the game for the Patriots, and despite only allowing three runs, one earned, on five hits he got the no decision.
Meaux also struck out six Bobcat batters.
Both of these teams are cemented into the playoff hunt. Now it is just a matter of what seed they will be placed in.
As it stands right now the Patriots are the five seed, and the Bobcats are the 11 seed.

Andy Bullard
Sports Editor