Three prep baseball teams advance

Three Tri-City area prep baseball teams will compete in regional round playoff series beginning Friday.
In Class 3A, No. 8 Berwick will host No. 9 Jena, while No. 17 Patterson will travel to No. 1 Sterlington.
In Division IV, No. 6 Central Catholic will host No. 11 Central Private.
All matchups are best, two-out-of-three series.
Berwick and Jena will meet Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at noon and Saturday at 3 p.m., if necessary.
Patterson and Sterlington will meet Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m., if necessary.
Central Catholic and Central Private will meet Friday at 5:30 p.m., Saturday at 11 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, if necessary.
Below are previews of the matchups.
Patterson
The Patterson Lumberjacks advanced to the second round after defeating No. 16 North Webster on the road Tuesday 13-2 in five innings.
While each team scored a run in the first inning, Patterson erupted for 10 runs in the third inning for an 11-1 advantage. The Lumberjacks added two more runs in the top of the fifth.
While Jena scored a run in the bottom of the frame, the squad couldn’t keep the game going as the 10-run mercy rule ended the contest.
“They played really well,” Patterson Coach Brett Dore said. “We started a little slow, but when they got hot, they didn’t hold back. They hunted the fastball and jumped on everything in the zone. The big inning was achieved because every player that stepped into the box did their job, whatever that job may be.”
Top offensive contributors for the Lumberjacks were as follows: Josiah Jennings, 2-for-3 with three RBIs; Haydn Bailey, 2-for-3, three runs; and Don Diaz, 1-for-3, a double, two RBIs and three runs.
Kaden Samuels earned the win. In 4.2 innings, he surrendered one earned run and three hits.
“We played sound defense, even with the rain and wet field,” Dore said. “Kaden Samuels worked down in the zone all day getting weak contact, and his defense stepped up behind him to make the plays.”
In the regional round, Patterson (16-15) will meet defending state champion Sterlington (28-4).
Sterlington enters the regional round riding a 12-game winning streak. The squad’s last loss was on March 29 when it fell to West Monroe 3-2.
In the first-round of the playoffs, Sterlington run-ruled No. 32 Kenner Discovery Health Science 18-0 in five innings.
Patterson enters the regional round after snapping a three-game losing streak with Tuesday’s victory against North Webster in the first round of the playoffs.
Sterlington and Patterson have no common opponents.
The winner of the Patterson-Sterlington series will meet the winner of the series between No. 8 Berwick and No. 9 Jena next week.
Berwick
The Berwick Panthers advanced to the regional round of the Class 3A playoffs after defeating No. 25 Lake Charles College Prep 5-3 in Berwick Tuesday in first-round action.
Berwick now will host No. 9 Jena.
Jena advanced to the second round after run-ruling No. 24 Frederick A. Douglass 12-2 in five innings Tuesday.
Jena has won three straight entering this weekend’s series.
Jena and Berwick have one common opponent, Berwick’s District 9-3A foe Lutcher. Jena fell to Lutcher 5-3, while Berwick dropped district games against the Bulldogs by scores of 11-3 and 4-0.
Berwick enters Friday’s contest on a two-game winning streak.
The winner of the Berwick-Jena series will meet the winner of the series between No. 1 Sterlington and No. 17 Patterson next week.
Central Catholic
The Central Catholic Eagles will begin their postseason playoff action Friday when they host the Central Private Redhawks.
Central Private enters the postseason with a 15-13 record. The squad will be looking to bounce back from a 13-2 loss to Parkview Baptist to end the regular season. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, Central Catholic (19-9) won two straight to end the regular season with a 5-1 win against Vermilion Catholic and a 9-0 victory over Highland Baptist.
The teams have several common opponents this season in East Ascension, Covenant Christian, Patterson and Ascension Catholic.
Central Private fell to East Ascension 9-4, lost twice to Covenant Christian by scores of 7-2 and 5-0, defeated Patterson 5-3 and was defeated by Ascension Catholic 7-3.
Central Catholic defeated East Ascension 2-1, topped Covenant Christian 4-1, was victorious against Patterson 8-0 and lost to Ascension Catholic 11-3.
The winner of the Central Catholic-Central Private series will meet the winner of the series between No. 2 Calvary Baptist and No. 14 Highland Baptist next week.
Morgan City
No. 31 Morgan City dropped its Class 4A playoff game to No. 2 North DeSoto 13-3 in five innings on the road Monday.
With the loss, Morgan City finishes its season with a 1-22 mark, while North DeSoto improves to 30-4.
North DeSoto will host No. 15 Eunice this weekend in a best-of-three series. Eunice advanced to the second round after defeating No. 18 Northwood-Shreveport 6-5 Monday.