Matt Vines

COUSHATTA – Red River High hasn’t traditionally still been playing baseball when the second round of the playoffs come, but the not only are the Bulldogs still alive, they’ll be at home.

No. 4 seed Red River (20-8) kicks off a best-of-three series with No. 13 Pine Prairie (18-12) beginning today at 6 p.m. Saturday action begins at 1 p.m. with an if-necessary game to follow.

The Bulldogs earned a first-round bye while Pine Prairie took two games from No. 20 Church Point by scores of 7-6 and 11-4 to advance.

Appearing in the second round just once in the last decade means the Bulldogs have already hit a milestone, but first-year coach Todd Moore said his club has aspirations of playing in the state tournament in Sulphur.

“Making it to Sulphur was our goal in August and it’s still our goal,” Moore said on The Tim Fletcher Show on AM 1130 on Thursday. “(The buy-in) wasn’t immediate, but it didn’t take long for the kids to get accustomed to our practices and our philosophy on things.

“We started 10-0 and had immediate success, so that reinforced what we were doing. We’ve had ups and downs, and we’ve won some games that we weren’t expected to and lost some we weren’t expected to as well. But it’s how you respond that defines your program.”

Red River will have a couple things in its favor against Pine Prairie.

The Bulldogs are built around their pitching with arms like Tyler Hughes, Ethan Williamson and Aston Hester.

Needing to win two games to take series eliminates a team getting hot at the plate on a given day or one pitcher having an off day.

Moore also said that no home runs have been hit in Red River’s home ball park, calling it a “graveyard” where fly balls die.

Red River’s pitching also has plenty to do with that.

Moore said both offenses will be focused on having good approaches at the plate and not swinging for the fences, which measure about 325 feet down the lines and 375 to centerfield.

“Being good line drive hitters is the key to winning,” Moore said in his radio interview. “The ball doesn’t carry here, and it’s a beautiful park to pitch in, but for hitters, you need to focus on hitting line drives from gap to gap.

“We do have some guys with power that have hit home runs in other parks, but that’s just not part of the game at home.”

Moore said that Pine Prairie is a typical South Louisiana team that’s “really scrappy,” but he likes where his Bulldogs are at this time of year.

“We lost our last regular season game 1-0 to Converse, but our guys have really focused on what they need to do to be successful hitters,” Moore told Fletcher. “I want our guys to be relaxed but to go out with intensity and energy.

“With six seniors on the team, they know if they don’t play well, it’ll be their last series. They know what’s at stake … but the players and the town are ready to roll.”