THS hopes hot bats power them to next level

You are only as strong as your weakest link.

That’s the message Terrebonne baseball coach Gus Brown preaches daily to his team to keep them motivated through the day-to-day grind that is District 8-5A baseball.

Following that adage, it appears the Tigers’ weakest link isn’t too bad.

Riding a dominant offense that routinely puts runs on the scoreboard and timely pitching, the Tigers have powered their way to the forefront of the Bayou District, a wide open race that will likely go down to the final day of the season.

“We don’t have that dominant pitcher that’s going to go up there and win us that 1-0 game or throw a no-hitter,” Tigers senior shortstop Mike Williams said. “So we know that we have to put up a lot of crooked numbers to be able to win. Most of the time, we’re able to do that.”

The way Terrebonne is able to muster those “crooked numbers” is through offensive balance.

The Tigers employ a batting lineup that is as fine as any in the area, anchored by the elder Williams and his younger brother sophomore third baseman Justin Williams, who hit second and third in the order, respectively and provide plenty of slugging and speed.

“Those guys, they just bring a lot to the team offensively, defensively and also with leadership,” Brown said. “They just bring a lot of positive things to our team. It’s good to have them in there. They help us in every area of the game.”

But the team also has hitting threats around the Williams brothers like sluggers Hunter Breaux and Aaron Coombs, who are capable of parking the baseball over the fence in any given at-bat.

When the Tigers need a spark off the bench, they are also able to call in junior Ryan Domangue, who is often called upon to be a pinch hitter in key situations.

It’s because of that stability that the Tigers have been able to score eight or more runs in 11 of their 20 games this season.

“I think our offense is amazing,” Justin Williams said. “From one-to-nine, we’re solid and our bench is pretty good, too. … Everybody, no matter if you’re on the bench or not, Coach Brown makes sure you stay into the game, so when you come into the game in a key situation, our guys know what’s going on.”

But while having an explosive offense is the Tigers biggest strength, Brown cautions it can also be his team’s weakness in some situations.

The Tigers have struggled in the early innings of several games this season, falling behind Assumption 6-0 in the early innings of a district game this year.

Terrebonne rallied to win that game 16-8.

They weren’t as lucky Thursday when they fell behind South Terrebonne 7-3 heading into the sixth inning.

The Tigers tied the game at 7 in the top half of the sixth inning, but couldn’t hold onto their momentum, eventually losing 8-7 to their district rivals on a walk-off wild pitch in the seventh inning.

“You hate fighting that uphill battle and coming from behind a lot,” Brown said. “We did the same thing against Assumption and really just a lot of times throughout the year. I don’t know what it is.

“Maybe we need to start the game in the fourth or the fifth inning or something,” the coach added with a laugh. “I don’t know. We need to find a way to be better throughout the whole ballgame.”

If they do that, The Tigers say they’re not sure just how good they might be.

Well, maybe they do, they’ll be as good as their weakest link.

That just might be good enough to emerge at the top of what is a loaded Bayou District, which features South Terrebonne, South Lafourche, Central Lafourche and Thibodaux all competing with Terrebonne for the coveted first place trophy.

“You can throw all of the records out of the books and you can throw all of that stuff out,” Brown said. “In this district, you’ve got to come and play the game between the lines in each day and in each game. With everybody in this district, you have to line up and you have to play the game. If it was that easy to where we’d go by, ‘Well this team should win here,’ or ‘This team should win there,’ then we wouldn’t even have to play the game. You can’t do that in this district. That’s what makes it fun.”

Terrebonne sophomore Justin Williams dives for home plate as South Terrebonne catcher Zachary LeBoeuf catches a relay throw. Williams is one of the Tigers’ most prolific offensive players in an offense that is considered by many to be the best in the Tri-parish area. CASEY GISCLAIR