Gents earn No. 9 seed in Class 4A playoffs

CROWLEY – The Crowley Gents’ baseball team recently wrapped up one of the best regular season finishes in school history, going 23-3 against a rouged slate that included a district that earned five playoffs spots.
The playoff brackets were released Sunday evening and the Gents earned the highest seed out of District 4-4A, coming in at No. 9.
The Gents will play host to No. 24 Riverdale tonight at Miller Stadium in a first-round matchup. First pitch for that contest is slated for 6 p.m.
“We are very pleased,” said CHS coach Christian Doughty, who will be sending junior Pate Broussard to the mound for tonight’s contest. “We’re much improved from last year and we’re very excited about our chances. We’re just going to have to take it one game at a time and try to do the things that we are capable of doing.”
The Gents looked as if they were going to be the No. 8 seed during the last week of the regular season but were jumped by West Ouachita in the final days before the brackets were released.
Now, should the Gents win the playoff opener, they will have to travel to West Ouachita for the second round, which will be a best-of-three series beginning Friday.
West Ouachita eliminated the Gents in the second round last year, 13-5, in a second-round matchup in West Monroe.
“We were a little disappointed that we dropped to No. 9,” said Doughty. “We thought we were going to be No. 8, which would have been a little bit better from a hosting standpoint, if we can get through that first round.
“We don’t know much about Riverdale but we surely can’t take them for granted.”
Admission for tonight’s game is $7 for adults and $4 for high school students and below.
The Gents are joined in the Class 4A playoffs by district foes Rayne, Beau Chene, Eunice and LaGrange.
Rayne slipped in with the No. 29 seed and will travel to No. 4 Benton today.
The Wolves, a quarterfinalist last year, finished the season with a record of 9-15 and finished fourth in league play.
Eunice, the District 4-4A runnerup, is the No. 18 seed and will travel to No. 15 North DeSoto for their first round game while Beau Chene, the No. 17 seed, will travel to No. 16 Loyola Prep. LaGrange earned the No. 23 seed and will travel to No. 10 Grant.
All first-round games must be completed today with the regional round contests slated to begin on Friday.