NV Patriots hope home-field will give them advantage needed this weekend

The No. 3 North Vermilion Patriots are hoping that playing at home in the third round of the Class 4A playoffs will be a significant advantage in a three-game series against the No. 6 Franklinton Demons (22-5).
NV is 3-1 playing at home in the post season and 12-2 overall at home.
The first game of the series is today at 4 p.m. at North Vermilion High School. The second game will be Saturday at noon, and if a third game is needed, it will follow the second game.
The Demons advanced to the third round of the Class 4A playoffs by beating Rayne in two games to win two out of three games. In the third game, the Demons won 16-6.
The Demons played that series in Franklinton, which is located 60 miles north of New Orleans.
Franklinton head coach Jeff Tageant has spent this week making hotel and eating arrangements for his player because they will be in Cajun Country for the next two days.
“There is a big advantage to playing at home,” said Tageant, who has won 450 games at Franklinton. “I spent the last two days making arrangements.”
While the two teams may be more than 200 miles apart, the two head coaches know each other. NV head coach Jeremy Trahan and Tageant are friends, which helped find eating and sleeping facilities.
“I know Jeremy has a good program at North Vermilion,” said Tageant. “He is doing a great job there. I have a lot of respect for him and the North Vermilion program.”
Trahan praised Tageant as well.
“Their coach (Jeff Tageant) has been there a long time and does a great job. They’re just a solid club. They don’t hang their hat on anything in particular,” said Trahan.
Both teams are somewhat similar on paper.
Both teams have a solid pitching staff, which will be needed in the three-game series.
Tageant said he has five pitchers he could use.
North Vermilion is also blessed with four solid arms and used everyone against Carencro last week.
Tageant was not 100 percent sure what pitcher will start today. He will either go with 6-foot 180-pound right-hander Jordy McKenzie. McKenzie is a University of New Orleans signee. McKenzie was beaten by Rayne 4-1 on Saturday in the second game.
His other choice is Will Turner, who got the first win against Rayne on Friday. Turner gave up nine hits, and three earned runs in the 6-4 win.
LeBlanc has three arms he can use: left-hander John Touchet, who is 9-0 on the year and right handers are Tyson LeBlanc and Allen Johnson.
The Patriots’ bats came alive against Carencro.
In three games, NV had 36 hits. Most of those hits came on Saturday in the doubleheader. NV had 32 hits in two games.
In post-season, the Patriots have four players who are hitting above .400 in all four games.
Dylan Naquin has a good post-season. He is 5-for-9 with a .555 batting average in four games.
Camden Breaux is not far behind with a .500 average (8-for-16).
Tyson LeBlanc is hitting .466 (7-for-15), and Dale Martin has a .416 average (5-for-12). Lane Patin has a .384 batting average (5-for-13) in four games.
This past Saturday, two players hit for .500 and above. Cooper David came off the bench and went 3-for-4 (.750 batting average) in two games, while Breaux was 7-for-13 (.538 batting average).
Brandt Fontenot hit for a .444 average (4-for-9), and Lane Patin was 4-for-12 for a .333 batting average.
Tyson has hit three doubles in four games, while Breaux has hit a home run and a double.
Fontenot, Martin and Naquin have hit each two doubles in the post-season.
The winner of the series advances to Sulphur for the state tournament.