Terriers hit their peak: Vandebilt playing best ball at the right time

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The Vandebilt baseball team stumbled out of the gates, and even that’s perhaps putting it mildly.

The Terriers lost five out of their first six games and different pieces of the club leaked water in each game.

Sometimes, they struggled to score. Other times, pitching had hiccups. When hitting and pitching clicked, maybe it was an untimely error that was the team’s undoing.


But the high school baseball season is long and the Terriers have since gotten themselves off the mat.

And now, they’re ready to challenge the top dogs in the chase for the Division II State Championship.

Vandebilt is red-hot at press-time, having won 13 out of their past 14 games, while sweeping through district play with an unblemished 10-0 record.


Coach Gee Cassard said he credits his senior leadership for the turnaround, adding that the team never panicked after the slow start, but stayed focused and confident that brighter days would be ahead.

“It was rough in patches early, but that’s baseball,” Cassard said. “We had a few games in the beginning of the season that maybe we’d like to have back, but also, look, we played some really talented teams, too. Our kids kept working and stayed focused and I think now, it’s great to see them getting the rewards based on the hard work that they’ve put in.”

The Terriers are talented across the field.


On the mound, they have a couple of aces.

Josh Shelly is one of the best pitchers in the area. He has a live arm and the ability to change speeds. When Shelly is on, he’s getting ahead in the count and overpowering hitters in 0-2 and 1-2 counts with filthy off-speed stuff and/or high fastball.

Against South Lafourche, Shelly flexed his muscles going the distance and allowing just one run with 8 strikeouts in a 7-1 win.


But when Shelly is unable to pitch, the Terriers also have a mountain of arms at their disposal, including Brennan Hamner, Koby Dufrene, Hunter Porche, Evan Frank and others — one of the deeper staffs in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

Since March 22, Vandebilt has played 11 games. In those games, the team is 10-1 with four shutouts. They’ve allowed just 27 total runs. That number is even more impressive when figuring that nine of those 27 runs came in one game — a 9-1 loss against Ascension Catholic.

“We have good arms,” Cassard said. “Our staff has been doing a good job at throwing strike one, doing a good job at keeping us in games. We believe in those guys. That’s one of the strengths of this club.”


The Terriers can bang it around a little bit offensively, as well.

Vandebilt has scored seven or more runs 14 times this season in 27 games — all 14 of those efforts coming after the team’s 1-5 start to the year.

The recipe for Vandebilt’s success is the balance of its lineup.


Top-to-bottom, the Terriers have sticks.

Jean Luc Lapeyre and Shelly set the table at the top of the order — their job to get on base. In the heart of the order, Dufrene, C.J. Detillier, Eli David and Hunter Porche are boppers who are capable of changing a game with one swing of the bat.

Porche owns a two-home run game this season and Cassard said the team has the ability to


“We have over the fence power,” Cassard said. “That’s nice to have at this level.”

But the Terriers also have quality sticks at the bottom of the order, too, which helps feed the top. Frank, Hamner and Dawson Martinez all produce quality at-bats that help the team win.

“We’ve been better at putting the ball in play and challenging the defenses,” Cassard said. “We can run a little, we hit for contact well and we have good power. In this game, those are good things to possess.”


So now, it’s time to find out exactly how good the Terriers are compared to the other powers in the state.

This week, Vandebilt will receive its stiffest challenge of its current run of success — a two-game series with E.D. White, the lone undefeated team in the state.

The Cardinals have roared through district competition, posting five mercy rule victories and countless other easy wins.


But the Terriers are undefeated, too, and Cassard thinks his team has an advantage in that they’re still not yet playing their best baseball — something the team hopes to do against the Cardinals, but also next week in the playoffs.

Vandebilt is currently No. 9 in the power rankings in Division II, considered one of the most competitive brackets in the state.

“We want to keep gelling and playing our best baseball,” Cassard said. “That’s what we’re looking to do for the remainder of our season.”


Game one of the series with E.D. White was played in Thibodaux last night with no score available at press-time.

The teams will play again in Houma tonight. •

VCHS baseballCOURTESY


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