Darron Degeyter bats against Southside

Prior to their Thursday night home contest against district rival Southside, the New Iberia Senior High baseball team had gone nine games without a win. Before their poor run of form in district play, the Yellow Jackets had an 11-9 record and were favorites to make the playoffs again this season. By the time they took the field against the Sharks, NISH desperately needed a good result to keep any hopes of a postseason appearance alive.

NISH set the tone early, scoring two runs in the first inning while holding Southside scoreless. A second two-run inning, this time in the third, was enough to reclaim the lead following Southside’s 3 run performance, also in the third inning. An infield error by the Yellow Jackets tied the game in the fifth inning, and solid defensive performances by both teams meant the score remained tied at 4-4 into the seventh and last inning of the game.

Luke Landry, NISH’s senior pitcher, began to struggle as the game wore on. Two batters were hit by pitches in the seventh inning, giving Southside a chance to go ahead at the end of the game. Landry, never one to let his emotions get the best of him, responded with a fantastic strikeout followed by a fly out to bring on the NISH offense to end the game. Three walks and a batter hit by a Southside pitch advanced Darron Degeyter to home plate, finishing the game 5-4 and ending NISH’s losing streak.

Landry’s seven inning performance against the Sharks was only the second time this season that he has been asked to go the distance, something he said makes the win more special

“It feels amazing, it’s a great accomplishment,” he said. “I’ve done it twice but it’s very hard to do and I couldn’t have done it without these guys out here. Darron (Degeyter) hitting the home run, the team answering back whenever I went down, it’s just a great feeling.”

Darron Degeyter led the scoring for the Yellow Jackets with 2 runs and 2 RBIs, including a homerun in the third inning. Luke Landry also hit a homerun, finishing the game with 1 run and 2 RBIs. Landry pitched all seven innings for NISH, throwing 68 strikes from 115 pitches with 5 strikeouts.

Head coach Eli Lewellyn said that he was proud of his team’s resilience so far this season.

“I’m really proud of this team in general because we’ve had ups and downs this season and could have easily been rolling over, but instead we showed up and competed against a really good Southside team.”

Lewellyn singled out shortstop Darron Degeyter as one of the players whose mental toughness played a big part in the win.

“I’m proud of Darron,” he said. “He ended up making that crucial error in the third inning but right after that, his next at bat, he mentally lets it go and hits a homerun to basically make up for the team. We had several mistakes, sometimes the ball didn’t break our way tonight, but we were able to overcome it just because our guys stayed locked in and focused on what they could control. They really did play the game one pitch at a time, so I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

In addition to the phenomenal shift put in by Landry and Degeyter, Lewellyn praised his outfield corps, who came up with big plays all night.

“Tonight our outfield did a phenomenal job,” Lewellyn said. “Christian (Thomas) has been a tone setter for us all year, we feel like if the ball is hit anywhere is his vicinity he has the speed to get there and we have a chance to make a play on it. Bailey Lee did a good job too, he had a couple of routine fly balls hit to him and he made every play. Freshman left fielder Mason Meyers also really stepped up big for us tonight, putting a couple of balls in play and made every routine play that came to him. Overall, I’m thrilled with this performance.”

The Yellow Jackets made the trip to Youngsville on Saturday to face Southside for the second game in the district series. NISH championship favorite Barbe, before finishing the season with an away game to Hanson Memorial on Saturday, April 23, 2022.