Capital One Bank (Fontainebleau High) pitcher Adam Hines came through in the clutch by driving in the winning run in the sixth inning and helping his team capture the Louisiana State American Legion Junior Tournament 4-3 over the Eunice Oilers Monday at the Bone Yard.

With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Capital One faced two outs and nobody on. With a 3-2 count, Dominic Pizzitolo hit a check-swing roller, but beat the pitcher to the bag for an infield hit. Hines was next and on a 2-0 count, Capital One coach Brian Babin rolled the dice and played hit-and-run. It paid off as Hines went the opposite way to left-center field, scoring Pizzitolo with the eventual game-winner.

“I was just trying to protect,” Hines said. “He threw it kind of outside. It looked like a strike. I just kind of swung, put my hands through it and luckily it just got a gap.”

(Use arrows above to view more photos)

Hines, who will be a sophomore next school year, was tough on the mound. Pitching on three days rest, Hines threw a complete-game allowing two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts and five walks (two intentional) in no pitches. He also had to work his way through some jams. With Eunice leading 1-0, Zac Person led off with a walk and then Matthew Bari hit a grounder to the shortstop, but the throw to second was dropped allowing Person advance to third. Hines came back to get a foul out, strikeout and then the Oilers loaded the bases with a hit by pitch, but Hines got a force out at third to end it.

Eunice went up 3-0 scoring two runs in the third. With two outs, Brett Darbonne walked, Person singled and Bari hit a two-run single, making it 3-0.

Capital One responded with three runs in its half of the third. Dru Richard walked, Andrew Brown singled. After the next two guys made outs, Sean Scariano hit a two-run triple over the right-fielder’s head and tallied on Rolston Bergeron’s RBI single, making it 3-3.

Neither team scored until the sixth, but Capital One had some tough innings to face. In the fifth, Eunice’s Brody Olivier doubled and went to third on Trent Vidrine’s sacrifice bunt. But Hines came back with get a foul out and a ground out with an intentional walk in between.

In the seventh, Olivier began with a single and went to second on Vidrine’s sacrifice bunt. Hines retired the next batter and Person was again intentionally walked. With two outs, Hines finished it off with a strikeout looking.

Hines talked about the feeling of winning a state title.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “The most I’ve ever done is get sixth place in the world series. To throw a strikeout on the last inning for the last out, it’s pretty cool.”

Coach Babin said it feels good to win the title.

“Anytime you win a championship, it feels good, not only for me, but for these kids,” Babin said. “These kids sat out for two weeks because of rain and cancellations. For these kids to come out, two weeks not playing, they did a great job. They competed and they played hard. We told them at the beginning of the week that we wanted to do two things, play hard and have fun. They did.”

Sixth district East Chairman Jay Felker shared his excitement for Capital One.

“I’m extremely proud of Fontainebleau,” Felker said. “They could’ve been down on themselves after the first game (Monday, a 13-3 loss). They could’ve made some errors, some mistakes, but they didn’t. They came back, they showed that they have the heart of a champion against a really really good baseball team (Eunice went 22-4).”

Felker also thanked those who helped put on the tournament that ran from Thursday-Monday.

“Thanks to the volunteers. They did a great job. We have had nothing, but rave reviews from everybody that came here about the hospitality, the facilities, how they’ve been treated, nothing, but rave reviews. It’s going to give us the opportunity to bid on the state tournament in the future. I couldn’t be more excited, more proud and more thankful,” Felker said.

Eunice came into Monday’s action with one loss and Capital One had zero in the double-elimination tournament, meaning the Oilers had to win twice on Monday and Capital One needed just one.

Eunice won the first game 13-3 in five innings.

Capital One scored three in the top of the first. Richard reached on an error and then Brown doubled.

Charles Marque collected a run-scoring single and Vincent Williams hit a ball to left field that dropped for an RBI hit, but it was misplayed allowing another run to score.

Eunice came back with five runs in their first before adding another in the second, six in the third and Matthew Ward finished it off with a fifth-inning RBI single forcing the teams to play another game.

Capital One made it to the finals by taking advantage of five errors and defeating Eunice 5-2 on Saturday.

Pitcher Garrin Fontenot threw a two-hitter in the complete-game victory with five strikeouts and three walks.

Hines went 3-4 with a triple and three runs scored. Richard singled twice and drove in two runs, while Scariano posted a pair of hits and two runs batted in. Andrew Brown accounted for Capital One’s other hit.

Eunice’s Person doubled and accounted for both of the Oilers’ RBIs. Vidrine recorded their other hit.

On Friday, Hines was the star in a 3-2 victory over Jeff Davis Bank (Jennings).

Hines was dominant, throwing a complete game with 15 strikeouts (eight looking, seven swinging), while allowing just four hits and walking only two.

“I just pushed as hard as I could,” Hines said. “My arm started hurting a little, but I just kept pitching through it. It was a big game.”

Hines said his curveball and change-up were working the best.

Coach Babin said Hines did a good job.

“He struggled early getting the first pitch over for a strike and they were hitting us hard. Even though they were outs, some of them were hit hard. Later on in game, he started getting ahead of hitters and then they started hitting slow rollers (and we got) strikeouts. All that piled up.”

Possibly the biggest play of the game came in bottom of the sixth inning. Capital One was ahead 3-1, but Jeff Davis Bank was threatening with runners on second and third with nobody out.

Jeff Davis attempted a safety squeeze. No contact was made and the runner at third got caught in a run down.

Eventually Hines put the tag on him for the first out, but during the run down, Keagan Kratzer, the runner at second, moved to third. Hines struck out the next hitter for the second out. In the next at bat, Kratzer went about halfway between third and home. The throw went back to the pitcher and Kratzer sprinted home to make it 3-2. Hines came back and got the next hitter looking at strike three.

He ended up striking out the side in a perfect seventh to nail down the win. Hines seemed to get stronger as the game went on. Six of the final seven outs came on strikeouts.

Eunice opened the scoring in the second inning. Kratzer tripled over the right fielders’ head before scoring on a wild pitch.

Capital One came back with three runs in the fourth, taking advantage of three Jeff Davis Bank errors.

Brown reached on a two-base miscue and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored when Scariano hit a grounder to first, but the ball was bobbled, allowing Brown to score and Scariano to reach. Marque then singled to left and Bergeron moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt. Scariano tallied on a wild pitch and Marque made it 3-1 on Williams’ RBI single.

On Thursday, Capital One defeated the Shreveport Cowboys (Southwood) 5-3.

Marque hit a home run, while driving in three runs in a two-hit day. Brown, Hines, Richard, Blake Rowles and Williams all posted hits for Capital One.

By virtue of staying undefeated in the tournament, Capital One had Sunday off, while the remaining competition played.

Jeff Davis Bank won Sunday’s first game 11-6 over Westgate.

Kratzer tripled, singled, walked twice and registered an RBI for Jeff Davis, while Kendall Meche singled twice and drove in two runs. Justin Marcantel drew three base on balls.

Westgate’s Colby Cook, Aaron Gary and Allan Stansbury all posted a hit and an RBI.

Jared Williams drew three walks.

In Sunday’s second game, Eunice coaxed 14 walks in a 14-1 victory over Jeff Davis Bank in five innings.

Kourt Deshotel singled twice and drove in three runs.

Jeff Davis’ Kratzer homered, while Marcantel had two singles.

In non-local action from Saturday, Jeff Davis Bank knocked off the Cajun Sting (New Iberia) 10-0 in five innings.

Marcantel allowed four hits in a complete-game effort. Zachary Duhon finished with one hit and three RBIs.

Jeff Davis Bank jumped out early with five first-inning runs.

Cajun’s Velot Khammany had two hits, while Mason Stain and Brody Bourdoin posted two knocks each.

In the second game, Westgate scored six runs in the seventh inning, capped off by a walk-off sacrifice fly from Corey Rogers in a 10-9 victory against the Shreve A’s (Captain Shreve).

Stansbury had four hits, including a double and two RBIs. Williams tallied two hits and two RBIs, while Dusty Meyers along with Drew Romero each recorded two hits.

Nathan J. Williams had three hits, a walk and an RBI, while Travis Elkins posted a pair of singles.

Saturday’s final game was Capital One’s 5-2 win over the Eunice Oilers.

There were three games on Friday.

Eunice topped Westgate 12-4 in the opener.

Vidrine walked four times for the Oilers, while Ward posted three runs batted in with two coming on RBI walks.

Darbonne, Olivier, Person, Josh Patin, Terry Alexander and Deshotel accounted for the six Eunice hits.

Westgate got eight hits with three coming from Cook, who also drove in a pair of runs.

The next game was Capital One’s 3-2 victory over Jeff Davis Bank.

Friday’s last game had the Shreve A’s defeating the Shreveport Cowboys 13-3 in five innings.

The A’s were led by Andrew Murphy, who had two hits, including a triple, and an RBI. Elkins doubled twice and drove in two runs, while Miller Lewis posted two hits with a run batted in.

Matt Russell led the Cowboys with a hit and two RBIs, while Michael Meredith had a hit and he knocked in a run.

The tournament opened Thursday with Eunice defeating the Cajun Stingers 5-3.

Eunice’s Deshotel posted a two-run single, while Olivier singled, scored and drove in a run. Darbonne had a knock and was hit twice, while Terry Alexander registered a hit.

For Cajun, Stain, walked, scored and drove in a run, while Khammany got an RBI double.

In the second game, Jeff Davis Bank downed the Shreve A’s 16-5.

Travis Legros went 4-4 with three runs. Bryson Abraham had three doubles and scored three times. Cody Helmick tripled and scored twice, while Kratzer added two hits and three runs. Marcantel singled and tallied two runs, while Dylan Lavergne walked and scored.

For the A’s, Elkins went 3-3 with a run, while Josh Stephenson got two hits and Williams walked twice, got hit and scored.

Thursday’s finale was Capital One defeating the Shreveport Cowboys 5-3.