ACHS baseball denied 4th state championship in D4 finals – The Advocate

Ascension Catholic was looking for its fourth state championship in Sulphur Saturday, but it was not to be as the Bulldogs lost 8-0 to the Ouachita Christian Eagles.

ACHS advanced to the finals with a 4-1 victory over Glenbrook. The Bulldogs trailed the Eagles 1-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth inning, four consecutive 2-out hits by the Eagles led to five runs.

The Eagles added two runs in the bottom of the sixth for the final tally.

ACHS starter Bryce Leonard (7-1) scattered four hits and struck out six until the fifth inning. ACHS tallied one hit against OCS starter, Karson Trichel, a leadoff single by Leonard. Trichel mixed his pitches the entire game and shut down the Bulldog offense. The Eagle defense was outstanding with zero errors and a couple of great plays to steal hits from the Bulldogs.

ACHS (25-9) advanced to the finals behind a masterful pitching performance by Brooks Leonard. He gave up one run in six innings and limited a very good Glenbrook offense with strikeouts and outstanding fielding.

The offense was led by Jackson Landry, Layton Melancon and Luke Husers. They combined for six hits and drove in three runs. The Bulldogs, under the direction of coach Gee Cassard, played a difficult schedule and had wins over 5A St. Amant and Dutchtown.

The Bulldogs beat D3 non-select champ Berwick and took 2 of 3 from D2 Select finalist ED White.

ACHS says goodbye to seniors Brooks Leonard, Bryce Leonard, Trent Landry, Layton Melancon, Collin Brown, Jacob Latino and Cullen Nolan. The Leonard twins will be heading to Northwestern in Natchitoches to play baseball.

This senior group won three district titles and made two quarterfinal appearances and a final. The Bulldogs will return junior starters Jackson Landry (ULM commit) and Jake Landry as well as sophomores Harrison Ledet, Austin Paine, Gavin Gregoire and Husers.

Several new faces will be called to step up as the Bulldogs look to continue their winning ways and chase another state title. ACHS won titles in 1993, 1994 and 2018. They were runner up in 1988, 1991 and 2023.

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ACHS baseball denied 4th state championship in D4 finals - The Advocate