Loreauville stays unbeaten in district with 14-12 win over CHS
Published 10:00 am Friday, April 1, 2022
- Loreauville High head baseball coach Rob Segura, center, talks with his team after a game against Catholic High on Tuesday.
Loreauville and Catholic High were both able to take some positives away from Tuesday evening’s District 7-2A baseball showdown at CHS.
For coach Rob Segura and the Tigers, they stayed perfect (3-0) in District 7-2A while improving their overall record to 11-8 with a 14-12 win.
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CHS coach David Jordan and the Panthers were disappointed to lose, but CHS staged an improbable comeback while taking note that a pitcher who had been sparingly used could make a big difference during the remainder of the season.
LHS scored two runs in the first inning and 10 more in the second inning. It appeared that the Tigers had the game comfortably in hand with left-handed pitcher Riley Marcotte on the mound.
Marcotte allowed a leadoff double to Trey Delahoussaye and another base runner in the first inning, but an attempt to bunt the runners over failed. Marcotte then struck out consecutive hitters looking with his fastball to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the bottom of the third, however, the Tigers scored three runs off the UL commitment, who came into the game averaging more than two strikeouts per inning with an 0.76 ERA..
Marcotte yielded only two hits while throwing 98 pitches in 3 2/3 innings, but was charged with four earned runs (six total). He walked seven hitters and hit multiple batters.
With one out in the top of the second, Jordan went deep into his bullpen and brought in sophomore left-hander Will Minvielle, who had thrown only 3.1 innings all season.
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The fourth pitcher of the game for the Panthers, Minvielle tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings while the Panthers steadily erased the deficit.
“I’m extremely proud of him for doing his job,” Jordan said of Minvielle. “He did what we needed him to do. He put some zeros up on the board.”
Delahoussaye went 3 for 4 with two doubles, a triple and four RBIs for CHS (6-13, 1-2). Zach Napier was 2 for 4 with a triple and three RBIs, and Jack Chauvin had a hit with two RBIs.
In the top of the seventh, LHS pushed across two runs to move ahead 14-12. In the bottom half of the inning, Napier and Lane Davis were both in scoring position with the winning run at the plate, but LHS second baseman Garret Blanchard made a nifty play on a grounder to end the game.
Andrew Berard worked the final 3 1/3 innings and got the win for LHS. He allowed six runs, but all were unearned with the teams combining for 11 errors.
“He’s been our third starter all year,” Segura said of Berard, who threw 71 pitches. “He’s thrown really well for us, so we were sticking with him. Our number two (Garret Blanchard) was unavailable. He pitched Saturday against Episcopal.”
The two pitching staffs also combined to issue 15 walks, hit eight batsmen and chunk 357 pitches.
“It’s very frustrating,” Jordan said of the walks and hit batsmen. “You have Marcotte on the mound for Loreauville, so you figure runs are going to be minimal, even if he’s off. You’re not going to score many on that guy, so for us to have so many free passes (by our pitchers) deflated us early on.”
Jordan admitted that he was somewhat shell shocked when LHS scored its first seven runs with only one hit.
“I was thinking, ‘What the heck just happened?’” he said. “We got punched right in the stomach, but I’m proud of my kids. We battled back. We did a lot right.
“I told our guys that our biggest opponent isn’t in the other dugout. Our biggest opponent is ourselves. Sometimes we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot. We take a howitzer and blow our whole leg off.”
The Tigers’ two runs in the seven were both unearned as the Panthers didn’t help themselves with back to back errors. Jordan said that Davis,who took a hard-luck loss after allowing no hits over the final two innings, pitched well.
“Lane Davis had an outstanding start to the season, then an injury set him back,” Jordan said. “There is a plus side to (losing the game). It was good to see Lane Davis throwing like he did at the beginning of the year. That’s going to help us down the road.”
Trevor Dooley went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs for LHS. Kaine Olivier had a double and four RBIs. Hunter Freyou scored three runs and Whitney Boudreaux went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
“I guess I’m happy we got a win, but that was not good baseball,” Segura said. “It’s always good to win, but we have to get better tomorrow.”
Segura lamented that the Tigers didn’t keep their foot on the gas pedal after taking the huge early lead, and he credited CHS for its near-monumental comeback.
“I think we relaxed too much,” he said. “We pressed ‘pause’ instead of staying aggressive like we did in the second inning. Credit (Minvielle). He threw well.
“Those guys over there (at CHS) are not going to quit. I kept telling our guys it’s a 0-0 game. You can’t relax. Not in this game. Not in high school baseball.”