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LORANGER BASEBALL
Wolves come up one game short of title shot as Iowa defeats Loranger 3-0 in semi-finals.
Loranger compiles best record in modern era at 27-5.
BATON ROUGE—The 2012 Loranger Wolves compiled their best record in the modern era at 27-5 besting the 2009 club by one less loss, but like
the 2009 team they came just one game short of advancing to the LHSAA Class 3-A Championship game as the Iowa Yellow Jackets (21-9) combined
a pair of timely hits with some early Loranger miscues to hand the Wolves a 3-0 setback in the semi-finals
hosted at McMurray Park Turf Complex in Sulphur, Louisiana on Friday. Iowa will played North DeSoto for the State title
Saturday with North DeSoto winning the Class 3A Championship 7-5.
The Wolves out-hit the Iowa Yellow Jacket 5-3 and got a solid complete game pitching performance from junior Logan Amacker, who struck out five, but it was not enough as Iowa senior Phillip LeBleu worked a no-hitter through four innings, struck out nine Loranger batters, and more importantly kept the Wolves off the board stranding seven.
“They (Iowa) put some pressure on early and we knew they would, but we did not get the outs and they were able to get up on us early,” said Loranger head coach Jason Helmsetter. “The attitude of our kids has been great all year, but we did not have as good a practice yesterday after getting up here, and I felt like that carried over some today and we were a little tight in the first couple of innings.”
The Wolves struggled at the plate through the first four innings as LeBleu struck out six and walked one after Loranger junior Damon Blake reached on an error to lead off the game. The Wolves broke up the no-hitter in the top of the fifth as Amacker and junior Chris Graham hit back-to-back singles, but they came with two outs on the board allowing LeBleu to work out of trouble with a ground out. Loranger got a lead off single in the sixth but saw the side retired in order after that. In the top of the seventh, Amacker and Graham again delivered back-to-back singles with two outs but a fly ball off pinch hitter senior Brad Lewis was caught to end the game.
“Obviously we are disappointed, but I am very proud of this group,” said Helmsetter. “They have accomplished a lot this season, and I told them after the game that they need to walk out of the stadium with their heads held high. They are a special group of young men.”
Loranger put the lead-off batter on to start the game as Blake reached on an error, but the Wolves would only send three to the plate as Blake was picked off trying to steal second. In the bottom half, LeBleu helped his own cause with a lead-off single and junior Allen Lormand, who ran for LeBleu, received a free trip to second on a balk. Junior Austin Theriot hit a ground out to advance Lormand to third and junior Gabe Roberts followed with a sacrifice fly to left to score the run.
The Yellow Jackets used a lead-off single by junior Garett Dartez and a pair of mistakes by the Wolves to put two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the second. Sophomore Brad Whittington reached on an error after the Dartez hit and both advanced a base on a wild pitch. Sophomore Dayton Laborde followed smashing a single to score Dartez and Whittington reached home on a ground out ball by junior Tanner Buller.
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Semi-finals
Friday at 1:00 p.m.
Sulfur, LA
WOLVES 0
Iowa 3
Quarterfinals FINAL
WOLVES 4
Parkview 3
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