Nothin’ but Nate: Houma native looking for enhanced success at UNO
April 1, 2015
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: CARTER CANTRELLE
April 1, 2015
On the back of the Terrebonne High School baseball warmup shirt is a quote that reads, “Every pitch, every play. Everybody, every day.”
The quote is a reminder to the team that in the always-tough Bayou District, there are no games off, and every, single game is a challenge – a task that requires the full attention of all the players on the team.
So far, the quote has given Terrebonne the motivation it needs, and the team has positioned itself well.
The Tigers are off to a solid start to the 2015 baseball season, currently sitting with a 12-6 record. Terrebonne’s guts were heavily challenged on Friday night when the team won a 10-inning thriller against a tough South Lafourche team.
The Tigers scored four runs in the 10th to break a 1-all tie. In that game, Terrebonne showed all of its strengths – experience, pitching, base running and timely hitting – the same skills that have enabled the team to push forward in the young season.
“That was a great game – a great win,” Tigers coach Gus Brown said. “We’re experienced. We’re senior heavy. We have a couple of freshmen who we mix in there, but our senior class gives us a lot of valuable leadership this year. We’re talented. We’ve been playing a lot of good ball, and we’ve seen a lot of good teams. We’ve gotten excellent pitching, great base running and playing smart, smart baseball. … Unlike in some other seasons, we haven’t been hurting ourselves this season.”
For the Tigers, elite starting pitching has been the key.
Terrebonne has recorded two shutouts and has allowed two runs or fewer in eight of its 18 games this season.
Against the Tarpons, Terrebonne’s one-two punch of Jeffery DeRoche and Luke Bergeron kept hitters off balance and out of rhythm.
DeRoche started the game and went the first six innings. Bergeron then pitched the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to keep Terrebonne alive. Once the Tigers got the four-run 10th, Brown decided to put DeRoche back into the game to save it out in an effort to save Bergeron’s arm for a later game.
DeRoche’s effort against the Tarpons was all heart. He took a line drive in the shin early in the game, but stayed in the game and delivered. As a base runner, DeRoche also was hit in the head by the baseball while attempting to steal a base.
But through the pain, he spun a gem and helped earn the Tigers a win – something that Brown said is a trademark of his veteran players this season.
“Jeffery was banged up – he took a beating tonight,” Brown said with a laugh. “He was probably only about 70 percent healthy on his ankle, but he’s all heart. That was huge. He’s a junior for us, and he’s all heart. Jeffery is a gutsy guy and he comes to play every time we step onto the field.”
With the Tigers’ pitchers slinging zeroes onto the scoreboard, Terrebonne’s hitters have a clear focus: get on base, play small-ball and then record the timely hit to score some runs.
Brown said that the Tigers’ approach at the plate is to try and take runs any way that they come – a strategy that has become more and more common in today’s high school baseball where the bats are less potent than they once were because of safety regulations.
Hitters like Devin Malbrough, Xane Washington, Austin Bollinger, Jalen Williams and Gage Veron are among the Tigers’ best offensive players in an offense that focuses on getting baserunners and moving them around the diamond via the bunt or stolen base.
Brown said he understands that a “small ball” approach isn’t always as exciting as the old days of the three-run home run, but he said he doesn’t particularly care. The coach said the offense is what works best for his team, and they will keep doing it.
The coach’s words proved right against the Tarpons, as Terrebonne successfully executed a handful of bunts and swiped at least four bases.
“People call it small ball, but we call it smart ball,” Brown said. “We bunting the ball well, stealing bases when we can and doing things to generate offense.”
So now the challenge is to keep things moving forward. The Tigers were dominant in non-district play, beating powerhouses like Brusly and E.D. White, while also scoring wins against Vandebilt, Redemptorist, Comeaux, East Feliciana and St. James.
But in district play, a tough schedule has plagued the Tigers.
The Tigers opened league play and lost a tough, 6-3 battle with Destrehan, a team expected to be one of the favorites in the race.
They rebounded in the extra-innings win over South Lafourche. But a day later, the Tigers were beaten again by Hahnville to fall to 1-2 on the season.
This week, the schedule doesn’t get much easier as the Tigers play Central Lafourche on Thursday and East St. John on Saturday.
Both of those teams have proven throughout the year that they are capable of winning any time they step onto the diamond. The Wildcats are actually undefeated in district at press-time.
“Every pitch, every play. Everybody, every day.”
That’s the recipe that the team thinks is key to righting the ship and pushing into the Class 5A State Playoffs.
“There are no places to relax in this district. Everyone can challenge you and can play,” Brown said. “You have to bring your A-Game every time you take the field. No one is going to roll over and be an easy loss. Everyone here can beat you on any given day. We know that. We’re prepared for that.”
NEW BALLPARK? ASK THE SCHOOL BOARD
The 2015 prep baseball season was always going to be a special one for the Terrebonne High School baseball team because a couple big events that are set to happen for the team.
The Tigers are expected to move into its new ballpark on Southdown within the next few weeks – a process that has been both exciting and tedious to everyone involved.
Brown said last week that he doesn’t know when the park will be open, deflecting that question to higher-ups because he said his only focus is on coaching his 2015 team.
“Geesh, man,” Brown said with a laugh. “I don’t know. That’s a school board question right there. We don’t know the status of that. Obviously, you can see all of the progress that they are making any everything, but we don’t know any exact dates or anything like that.”
