Sage Delahoussaye, Darian Charles and Zachary Romero celebrate with their Westgate teammates after the winning run scored for the Tigers in Game 2 against the Rayne Wolves Friday evening in Rayne.

RAYNE — What was originally thought to be a walk with the bases loaded turned out to actually be steal of home plate by Darian Charles. Regardless of how it went down on the scorecard, the play resulted in the No. 31 seed Westgate Tigers capping off a five-run, come-from-behind win to sweep the 23rd seeded Rayne Wolves in the quarterfinals of the 2018 LHSAA Class 4A baseball playoffs.

Trevor Carriere reached base on a hit by pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Leadoff hitter Davien Johnson then flew out to center for the first out. Charles and Sebastian Jenkins reached base on back-to-back errors that allowed Carriere to trot home to tie the game at 4-4. Michael Sonn was intentionally walked to load the bases for Sage Delahoussaye.

On a 3-1 count, the Rayne pitcher delivered a pitch that was low to fill the count. The umpire at home called the pitch a strike, and the catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher. The runner on third base, Charles, was alert enough to trot home and touch home plate for the game-winning run.

“We’ve been there before,” said Westgate head coach David Angeron about his team’s comeback. “We’ve had several of those one-run losses where we were down six or seven runs in the last inning, and these guys never say die. I tell them all the time, the best part about baseball is the game’s not over until the last out is lit up on the scoreboard, so we live by that motto. We play hard until the last out no matter if we’re getting beat by 10 or 1. We’re going to battle until the end.”

The battle to come back Friday began with Angeron’s team down 4-0 going into the bottom of the sixth. Johnson led off the inning with a single. Then, with one out, Jenkins walked ahead of a two-RBI single off the bat of Michael Sonn. A fielder’s choice then allowed Delahoussaye to reach first base. Delahoussaye scored on a double by Romero to make the game 4-3.

The sweep of Rayne means that Westgate will be vying for a state championship in Sulphur starting Friday against either No. 3 seed DeRidder or No. 27 seed Buckeye. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.

Angeron said it feels good for his team to reach Sulphur.

“We had to do it the hard way, but you got to give it to these kids,” he said. “They tested their character over and over this season, and they’ve grown up and matured a whole lot for me in the last few weeks and months. I got to give all the credit to them.

“They battled and battled and left it between the lines and fought through adversity,” he continued. “They could have shut it down after eight or nine one-run losses this season. Instead of shutting down, they used it for motivation. I’m proud of these guys.”

The battle tested Lions began the playoffs with a 5-2 win over second seeded Tioga. Westgate then needed three games to knock off the 18 seed Warren Easton in the regionals to be able to make it to Rayne, where they won Game 1 Thursday night by a score of 7-4.

Now Angeron’s task is to get his squad mentally prepared for what is next.

“We’re going to go hard,” he said. “We’re going to prepare mentally. It’s their first time there, and they’ll get kind of star struck with the big stadiums, and the scouts, and all of the fans. I have to get them mentally prepared to get through that.”

He added, “We don’t want to go into the first inning and have errors and mistakes because we’re nervous. We’re going to try to practice at Broussard’s park or some turf field somewhere where we can get a couple of days on the turf and have a hard intense practice.”

Angeron, however, stressed that it is business as usual this week.

“Getting there wasn’t the goal,” he said. “Winning it all is the goal, and we’re still on that same mission. We’re taking one day at a time. We say carpe diem every day. We’re trying to seize the momentum, and that’s what we’re going to live by next week.”