The defending state champion and #1 ranked Pitkin Tigers and the #3 ranked Hicks Pirates both earned slots in the state semifinals for baseball with wins in the last few days. They both meet semifinal opponents on Tuesday, May 10, for the right to play each other for the Division V non-select school title next Friday in Sulphur.
Crowds should be stacked next Tuesday at McMurry Park on Field #37 for both Division V games. The 11 a.m. semifinal has Pitkin meeting the winner of today’s game between #4 Stanley and #5 Quitman being played at 5 p.m. tonight in Stanley.
The Tigers are searching for back-to-back state titles. Pitkin has won 13 baseball titles in school history, making them third in Louisiana behind Jesuit (New Orleans) and Hicks.
Pitkin knocked out Anacoco in the regional round by an 11-2 score last week. Pitkin won the state title last year with an 8-4 win over Anacoco. Tuesday, the Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead to back pitcher Lincoln Stephens. The senior left-hander, who was going on three days’ rest, pitched six innings. Dane Martin had two hits and four RBI’s. Martin also pitched in relief in the seventh. First baseman Brock Nolan chipped in with two RBI’s. Cy Johnson’s bases-loaded single in the first got the Tigers rolling. They added four in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth to close out the game.
Across the Division V bracket, the #3 Hicks Pirates will meet #2 Weston in the other semifinal Tuesday, May 7, at 2 p.m. on Field #37. Hicks defeated Elizabeth in the regional round 5-2, while Weston knocked out Lacassine 9-1.
Hicks dispatched district foe Elizabeth 5-2 as senior Hayden Doyle pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts. He had seven K’s through the first four innings. Elizabeth had Doyle in a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the first and scored only one run.
Sophomore Addison Coffman went three for three and drove in the Pirates’ first runs in the bottom of the first. Elizabeth cut it to 3-2 with a rare double steal of home in the top of the third. The Pirates added two in the fourth to seal the game behind RBI’s from Coffman and Dakota Edwards. The Pirates have regularly played six sophomores this year. Hicks has 15 state baseball trophies in the case and won state titles in 2021 and 2022, their first in ten years.
The much-anticipated all-Vernon Parish matchup could take place Friday, May 10, at 11 a.m. on Field #40 at McMurry Park in Sulphur. Weston, Quitman, and Stanley will have a little something to say about that.
Games at the semis and finals will be carried in Vernon Parish on radio stations KJAE/93.5 and KVVP/105.7.
