Saints draft for depth
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May 2, 2012
First pitch for Saturday afternoon’s opening round playoff game between South Terrebonne and Vandebilt was set for 1 p.m. at the Gators’ baseball complex.
By 1:30 p.m., the drama for this day was pretty much over.
The Gators had virtually punched their ticket to victory.
Thanks to a dominant, six-run first inning, South Terrebonne went ahead early and coasted late, scoring a 9-4 opening round win against the rival Terriers.
The victory pushed the Gators to the second round of the LHSAA Class 4A Playoffs for the first time since the 2009 season.
“I thought we did a good job today and I’m proud of our all-around effort,” South Terrebonne coach Nathan Cotten said. “Our pitcher did a great job throwing strikes and we made plays behind him. Offensively, we put balls in play with authority and took advantage of a couple of mistakes. It was an all-around good game.”
South Terrebonne’s start to Saturday afternoon’s game couldn’t have been any better. It served as the equivalent to a first round knockout in a prize fight.
After a 1-2-3 top half of the inning from starting pitcher Josh Trujillo, the Gators bats went to work.
Leadoff hitter Zachary LeBeouf started the action, smacking a 3-2 pitch from Vandebilt starter Chase Hawthorne deep over the left field fence for a solo home run, which gave the Gators a 1-0 lead.
They were just getting started.
South Terrebonne’s first three hitters in the inning reached safely and a total of 10 batters were sent to the plate in the nearly half-hour rally, which chased Hawthorne from the game after just two-thirds of an inning.
“We really came out of the gates fast,” LeBeouf said. “We kept our momentum up and we just rode that the whole way home. It was so important to get to that fast start and we did it.”
“We were calm because we just treated this as another game,” added Trujillo, who had a 2-RBI base knock in the opening rally. “This was the same as the regular season, district or any other game. We came out played ball and tried to take it to Vandebilt.”
The damage in the six-run onslaught was a mixed bag of Gators hits and Vandebilt errors.
Vandebilt coach Corey Sullivan said with a young roster, butterflies were the source of the early woes.
“I think it was a little bit of nervousness,” Sullivan said. “It’s frustrating because we had a great week of practice. And hey, we hit some balls hard today, but they had us positioned right. Give them credit, they made the plays.”
The Gators stretched their lead to 8-0 with two more runs in the second inning, which virtually sealed Vandebilt’s fate.
The Terriers clawed back to striking distance with single runs in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but were never able to seriously threaten because of their inability to get a key hit.
Vandebilt stranded more than 10 runners on base in the loss, thanks to key clutch pitching from Trujillo, who recorded a complete game win.
“Late in the game, he was getting a little tired and we could really tell that was the case,” Cotten said. “But Josh is a competitor and we tell every pitcher that we ever run out there that we have a lot of confidence in them. And it’s the same with Josh – we have a lot of confidence in his ability and we wanted to finish this game up where it started: with him.”
With the win, South Terrebonne will now move to the second round where they will travel to take on Holy Cross.
The No. 5-seed in Class 4A, Holy Cross scored a 4-2 opening-round win against Franklinton.
LeBeouf said he believes if the Gators play their best baseball, they will walk away victorious.
“When we’re on, we’re as good as anyone,” he said.
Another big-time first inning wouldn’t hurt, either.
“We take pride in jumping out early,” Trujillo said. “That’s something we really like to do. It’s something we believe we’re good at.”
Elsewhere in the Tri-parishes:
The Gators weren’t the only Tri-parish team to move into the Round of 16 in local playoff action.
In Class 3A, No. 9 Berwick moved to the second round with a 9-4 home win against Avoyelles. The win pitted the Panthers against No. 8 Loranger in the Field of 16.
Also alive in 3A is No. 7 E.D. White, who rode dominant pitching to a 7-1 opening round win against No. 26 West Feliciana.
The Cardinals’ win pushed them into a home tilt with No. 10 Eunice with a spot in the quarterfinals up for grabs.
In Class 1A, Central Catholic is also still swinging after posting a 7-2 win against West St. John. The Eagles will travel to take on St. John in the second round.
But this week’s first round wasn’t friendly to all, as Morgan City fell in Class 4A, Patterson bowed out in Class 3A and Houma Christian dropped a one-run nailbiter in Class 1A.
In 5A, Central Lafourche got into the playoffs as the No. 23 seed. They will play No. 10 Rummel in the opening round. The state’s highest classification opens the playoffs a week later than Classes 4A-1A, which is the cause for the delay.
South Terrebonne pitcher Josh Trujillo fires a pitch during Saturday’s first round playoff game with Vandebilt.
