SULPHUR — The debate has raged for as long as baseball has been played ... which one do you want?
Dominant hitting or pitching?
Pitching was the answer for No. 2 seeded Mangham on Tuesday.
The Dragons’ Christian Almond allowed three hits and struck out 13 in a 3-1 Division IV nonselect semifinal victory over third-seeded French Settlement at the LHSAA state baseball tournament at McMurry Park.
“We ran into a really good arm today,” French Settlement coach Kade Scivicque said of Almond. “That guy has got really good stuff and he kept us off balance a bit.”
With the win, Mangham (21-8) advances to play top-seeded Oak Grove (18-10) in the Division IV nonselect final set for 2 p.m. Friday. Oak Grove, the reigning champion, beat DeQuincy 6-5 in its Tuesday semifinal.
French Settlement (16-17) advanced to the LHSAA tourney for the first time in 17 years. The Lions got off to a solid start when Trevor McMorris walked one and struck out two in the bottom of the first inning.
But the complexion of the game changed in the second inning. Mangham’s Austin Lively led off with a double. The Dragons’ Cade Poland then laid down a sacrifice bunt. A French Settlement error on the play gave Mangham a 1-0 lead.
The Dragons added two runs in the bottom of the third. Blake Pierce walked to lead off the inning and Almond reached on a fielder’s choice. Two French Settlement errors played a role next as Mangham upped its lead to 3-0.
The Lions got closer with a run in the fourth. Colin Hutcherson drew a leadoff walk and stole second before scoring on an RBI hit by Mason Hill.
Almond, who threw 101 pitches, got stronger as the game progressed. His definitive moment came in the bottom of the sixth after Hance Roussel and McMorris hit consecutive singles for French Settlement.
No outs at that time proved to be no problem. Almond struck out the next three batters to end the threat. And he struck out two of the final three batters he faced in the seventh.
“(Almond) thew his fastball for strikes and his breaking ball for strikes and kept us guessing a little bit,” Scivicque said. “We put a little pressure on ourselves early on when we did not need to.
“You've got to tip your cap to that guy. He’s pretty good.”