Tarpons’ first-year coach emphasizing consistent pitching to team

South Lafourche first-year baseball coach Jared Landrum believes he has a good team – one with a shot to compete for a district championship.

When they throw strikes, that is.

With district play looming, the Tarpons are finding out the hard way that getting ahead in the count is the key to their success.

When they do, they win. Like two weeks ago when they took home the Terrebonne Tournament Title.

When they don’t, they get beaten. Like last Tuesday when they were battered and bruised in a 17-4 loss to Morgan City.

“Anytime we struggle, we’re behind in the count and teams hit the ball,” Landrum said. “If we can get our pitchers to buy into the fact that you throw strikes early and if they hit the ball, they’ll hit it early, because we’re not going to walk people to let extra people get on base, then I think we’re going to be OK.”

South Lafourche started the season behind in more than just the count, also behind in the win/loss column.

The Tarpons opened with four-straight losses, thanks in part to a 0-3 record at the Salmen Tournament to open the season.

In that tournament, South Lafourche took on state powers Salmen, Slidell and Northshore – all of whom annually make postseason runs.

The Tarpons took their lumps in that weekend, but that was partially by design, according to Landrum, who said the team’s schedule is designed to have South Lafourche ready for district play.

“That’s why we play it, so we can see that good competition,” Landrum said. “So when we go play in some of our good tournaments that also have good competition later in the year, we’re already ready for it and we perform well. It prepares us for our district, because we’ve got a very good district.”

South Lafourche pitcher James Mayberry agreed and said the team never hung its heads despite the slow start.

“We were playing tough teams and even though the outcomes didn’t go the way that we’d hoped, we just sort of realized that if we can play with these teams, then we can play against anybody,” Mayberry said.

Like the coach predicted, the Tarpons eventually found life, rallying to win five-straight games, including the top prize at the Terrebonne Tournament, where they beat district opponents H.L. Bourgeois and the home-standing Tigers.

In those games, South Lafourche rode the arms of Mayberry and fellow starter Bryan Bergeron – the team’s top pitchers.

They also reaped the benefits of clutch hitting and stout defense.

“We were fielding ground balls, we were putting bunts down when we needed to and we were making good choices on the base paths,” Landrum said of his team’s run of success. “We were hitting the ball in clutch situations and our pitching was going good when we were winning games. We were throwing strikes and we were getting people out.”

Tarpons pitcher Bryan Bergeron agreed with his coach and said Landrum told the team to stay focused despite the slow start – because after all, South Lafourche overcame a similar start last season and ended up making the playoffs.

“After the first tournament, we just started making plays behind our pitchers. And that really helped us,” Bergeron said. “We realized last year it was the same scenario, so we just took off of last year’s team. If they can do it, we can do it, so we never hung our heads.”

But more important than the team’s execution and mentality, according to Landrum was their ability to throw strikes.

With district play starting this weekend, it is that and base running, above any other factor, that the coach believes will seal his team’s fate.

“Tonight, we were throwing balls, balls, balls, so when we threw a strike, they’d know it was a fastball, so they killed it,” Landrum said following the Morgan City loss. “It’s not a good situation when you get behind in the count. We’re going to have to throw strikes. And we’re going to have to be solid on the bases. Those are the two things we’re going to emphasize and re-emphasize and then emphasize some more. Throw strikes and be solid on the bases.”

It’s a simple formula – whether it comes to fruition could mean the difference in the Tarpons hopes to repeat as district champions.