Lafayette Christian punches ticket to Sulphur with sweep of Ascension Episcopal – The Advocate

The Lafayette Christian Knights carried their momentum from Friday night's game one quarterfinals victory into Saturdays game two matchup versus the Ascension Episcopal Blue Gators.

It appeared that the contest might be a pitchers duel like Friday with it being tied 0-0 after three innings, but the No. 3-seeded Knights broke through and scored in the fourth inning and delivered a trio of insurance runs in the seventh to secure a 5-0 victory over the No. 6-seeded Blue Gators.

The Knights were able to punch their ticket to Sulphur for the first time in school history behind another great pitching performance against a seasoned Blue Gators team.

I just finished telling our guys that Im super proud of them, Knights coach Greg Fontenot said. Threw two complete game shutouts against a very good baseball team. I have the upmost respect for Lonny Landry and what he does with his program. It was a complete team victory both games.

The Knights had their other experienced arm on the mound in junior Hunter Lail, and he delivered a dominant effort and pitched seven shutout innings.

Its incredible, Lail said. Its our first time being in this situation as a program, and weve set many milestones this year. I was struggling at the beginning to find my off-speed pitch, but then toward the end I really found my slider and a breaker, and I was able to keep them off balance."

The Knights were able to get their bats going today, and they got on the board in the fourth after a two-run homer by Brylan Green.

We struggled hitting a little bit (Friday), its no secret, Fontenot said. Both teams did yesterday, and we came this morning, made a couple of adjustments during BP, and I thought it kind of paid off for us toward winning the game."

I really wasnt trying to get it over," Green said. "I was just trying a gap-to-gap approach because weve been hitting the ball a lot in the air. Just get it on the ground and get a base runner for my team, but when I hit that home run, it got my guys some energy. From there on out we were in it, and from inning one to inning seven we just played our hearts out.

The Knights continued to add on in the seventh with RBI singles from pinch hitters Cooper Martin and Michael Simien.

It took everybody, Fontenot said. Guys that were in the lineup and guys that were on the bench. We got two guys (Martin and Simien) that came off the bench and got two big hits in the top of the seventh to kind of pull the lead away a little bit.

The Blue Gators had more chances today than yesterday, but they had trouble delivering timely hits.

It was good up until the fourth, Landry said. That was the first hit they (LCA) got, and it was a big hit. Kudos to them, theyre a good team. We had our chances early, we just couldnt get that hit to get us over the hump. Im proud of them (seniors), Im going to miss them.

The Knights will look to keep their run going in Sulphur next week and will be taking on No. 2-seeded St. Charles at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Its surreal, Fontenot said. I got here a year ago, so just to know that we put a vision in place, and these kids bought in from day one to make this vision become reality, its cool to see. Hopefully we can continue to build on this success in the future, but right now were worried about Wednesday and going 1-0 in the semis.

It was a long road because we didnt start off strong, but then coach (Greg) Fontenot came in and did a great job in shaping the program," Lail said. "Now having that leadership from our upperclassmen, its incredible to go to Sulphur. Its an incredible moment.

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Lafayette Christian punches ticket to Sulphur with sweep of Ascension Episcopal - The Advocate