Erath playoff run falls short at No. 2 seed Iota

Published 8:00 pm Tuesday, May 10, 2022

IOTA — Erath’s magical run through the Class 3A baseball playoffs came to an end Saturday as the Bobcats fell 14-1 in five innings to No. 2 seed Iota.

With the loss, and thanks to the Bulldogs 5-4 win the first game Friday night, Erath was swept in the Best of 3 quarterfinal series, one game short of going to the Class 3A State Baseball Tournament at McMurray Park in Sulphur this week.

“Our guys played well all year long and last night (Friday) one big inning got away from us,” Erath coach Jeremy Picard said. “We had a lot of inexperience out there but they continued to battle to the end and I’m proud of them.”

Against Iota, Erath played well in both games but Iota was able to push across some runs in each game and take advantage of EHS miscues to pull out the wins and advance to the semifinals Thursday against Lutcher.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win Friday and we didn’t do it and today we battled early but a bunt here and a bunt there and they kind of blew it open,” Picard said. “And they are a good baseball team.

“They are the No. 2 seed in the bracket for a reason and they are going to do well in Sulphur.”

Lynkon Romero got the start for Erath and pitched well, holding the Bulldogs to a 4-1 lead as the game progressed but Iota was finally able to get to him in the fourth.

“Their pitcher was getting a lot of pop outs against us so we changed up a little bit and we were able to get a couple of bunt hits and they threw the ball around a bit and we were able to take advantage of their miscues,” Iota coach Leonard Cloud said.

Still with the loss, the fact that the Bobcats made the quarterfinals this year in Picard’s first year back after spending a couple of year away from the team speaks volumes.

“At the beginning of the season I didn’t think that we had this kind of season it us,” Picard said. “But as the year progressed and we started playing better I started to think that we had this kind of run in us.”

The Bobcats went through two rounds of playoffs before falling short in the quarterfinals.

“I hate that it ended this way for our seniors,” Picard said. “But there was a learning experience for our younger players and they are going to remember what we did and what we are capable of doing and hopefully we can do a little better next year.”