Staff Report
BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana High School Athletic Association released the 2025 postseason bracket for baseball, and four area schools earned postseason berths.
Division I, Non-Select: No. 12 Ruston vs. No. 21 Hahnville (3-game series, Friday, April 18 – Saturday, April 19)
The Ruston High Bearcats have completed the regular season with 23 wins on the year in Bryan Beck’s first year at the helm– more than double of last season’s total and have earned the No. 12 overall seed in the bracket. The Bearcats will host the Hahnville Tigers in a best-of-three series starting on Friday, April 18, at 6 p.m. Game 2 will be Saturday, April 19, at 1 p.m. with Game 3 following, if necessary, 35 minutes at the conclusion.
“We’re really excited to represent our school and our community and have a chance to play in the postseason,” Beck said. “I give all the credit to our kids and our assistant coaches — they’ve worked really hard and done a lot of things to get to this point. You look up and you’re the 12-seed after winning 23 games. You can take that for granted, but those wins were earned.
“It’s an incredible time for our kids and their parents, and I’m just happy to be part of it and to watch them play. We didn’t just want to check the box for the playoffs — we’re trying to win it and keep going to the next round.”
Ruston and Hahnville already squared off once this season with the Bearcats coming out on top 9-3 in the Trey Altick Classic back in February. The winner will travel to play No. 5 Benton in the regional round.
Division IV, Select: No. 18 Cedar Creek at No. 15 St. Edmund (Tuesday, April 22)
Following a 12-18 season, Cedar Creek has earned the No. 18 seed and will travel to Eunice, La., to take on the No. 15 St. Edmund Catholic School Blue Jays (16-14) on Tuesday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m.
“We are excited and grateful to extend our season,” Cedar Creek Head Coach Chad Yates said. “We certainly feel with the way the Select Division IV playoff format is set up with a one game playoff that we have a great opportunity. We know with Kade Luker on the mound and the way that he has been pitching here the last month or so that we match up with anybody in the state.
“Keys for our success will be to continue to take care of the routine plays on defense and execute on the bases and at the plate. We’ll need a couple of bats to step up so we can put more pressure on the opposing team’s defense. I am confident that our team will be prepared to go compete and leave it all on the field representing Cedar Creek School and the City of Ruston.”
The winner will travel to play No. 2 Vermillion Catholic in the regional round.
Class B: No. 17 Simsboro at No. 16 Zwolle (TBA)
The Tigers finished the regular season with a 15-13 overall record and earned the No. 17 seed. They will travel to Zwolle to take on the Mighty Hawks at a time and date to be determined.
The winner will play No. 1 Pitkin in the regional round.
Simsboro head coach Scott Hiers said Tuesday night that he’s traded messages with the Zwolle but no game day or time has been set yet.
“I hate to bring the team in the Monday just after Easter, and then with LEAP testing going on, and I’m going to have to talk to my administration and find the best way for all of us to work around all of that,” Hiers said. “The period to get the game in runs from March 22-26. So we really would like our game to be at least as late as Thursday (the 24th) if not Friday or Saturday. I’ll talk to the Zwolle coach today and hopefully we’ll get it all figured out.”
Zwolle and Simsboro (15-13) met earlier this season in a tournament in south Louisiana.
“We played Maurepas on a Friday and played well and beat them (7-3),” Hiers said. “Then we went out on Saturday, the next day, and lost to Zwolle 11-1. It was like we were disinterested and didn’t want to be out there.
“But I know enough that we’ve capable of beating Zwolle. We definitely can beat them. But you never really know until the teams hit the field.”
Class B: No. 12 Choudrant at No. 5 Quitman (Tuesday, April 29)
Choudrant’s 11-15 overall record earned them a first round bye in the Class B tournament and will travel one parish south to take on the Quitman Wolverines Tuesday, April 29, at 6:00 p.m.
The Aggies have already played Quitman once this season and picked up a 2-1 win at the end of March.
The winner will advance to play in the quarterfinals against an opponent yet to be determined.
