Baseball: St. Amant edges Denham Springs 2-1 with a run in seventh

St. Amant stayed unbeaten in District 5-5A on Saturday, but things didn’t come easy at Denham Springs.

Connor Molaison lofted a sacrifice fly to right field in the top of the seventh inning, and the Gators slipped past the Yellow Jackets 2-1 in the first of their two scheduled meetings.

St. Amant (19-7, 3-0) started its rally with one out against Denham Springs reliever Christian Callender. Blaise LaLonde and Lawson Bourgeois each worked the count full before drawing consecutive walks. Wyatt Ford followed with a four-pitch walk to set the stage for Molaison, the designated hitter.

Molaison launched the second pitch from Callender out to right field giving LaLonde time to race home with the go-ahead run.

“I expect this type of game every time we play in this district,” St. Amant coach Brandon Bravata said. “We had some trouble. We had some scoring opportunities, and I was afraid it would come back and get us at the end. Fortunately, we were able to scratch across that last run.”

The Gators were in position to win thanks to the effort of starting pitcher Lawson Bourgeois, who allowed one run on four hits in six innings. He worked out of trouble in the third inning and limited the damage in the bottom of the sixth, when Denham Springs (14-11-1, 1-2) tie the game 1-1.

In the bottom of the seventh, St. Amant brought in reliever Austin Rylee, who needed only nine pitches to retire the side.

“It was a great performance by Bourgeois,” Bravata said. “He wasn’t feeling his best, but he gutted it out, and, of course, Austin Rylee with the save did a great job. I’m very proud of both of them.”

Denham Springs starter Caleb Klug held St. Amant scoreless for four innings. In the fifth, Layne Swanson led off with a single, and stole second and third. He scored the game’s first run on LaLonde’s one-out single to center.

St. Amant catcher Trent LaPorte threw out two Yellow Jackets baserunners, one in the first and one in the second. With two outs in the first, LaPorte threw out Ethan Hand at second. In the Yellow Jackets next at-bat, LaPorte caught Jaxon Adams at second after he reached base on a one-out single.