By Malcolm Butler
Cedar Creek (3-2) won two out of three over the weekend, posting victories over Lake Charles College Prep (12-1) and Vermilion Catholic (8-7) while falling to Doyle (7-4) at the Ro Classic, named in honor of former collegiate baseball coach Tony Robichaux hosted by North Vermilion High School.
The weekend was highlighted by the Cougars seven-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Vermilion Catholic by a score of 8-7.
Head coach Chad Yates said he felt like not only that win, but the entire weekend will go a long way in building the players confidence this season.
“For our club it was huge,” said Yates. “The buy in factor that we have been preaching as far as to play until the last out … for them to experience that, I wholeheartedly feel it will turn our season into something special. It was a big win and something special.”
Cedar Creek will travel to face Winnfield at 4 p.m. today before starting the Trey Altick Tournament on Thursday.
Cedar Creek 12, Lake Charles Prep 1 (Friday)
The Cougars led only 2-0 heading into the top of the fifth inning before exploding for a 10-spot in the 12-1 victory over Lake Charles Prep.
Blake Wade (2-3, 2 RBI), Kade Luker (2-4, 2 RBI), Trent Franklin (1-4, 3 RBI), Noah Durrett (1-4, 2 RBI), and Connor Yates (1-4, RBI) all drove in runs for the Cougars in the win.
Max Brister went the distance to pick up the win on the mound, working 5.0 innings while allowing jsut one run on four hits with six strikeouts.
“Max Brister went out and gave us a great effort on the mound,” said Yates. “He threw a ton of strikes. They had a left handed pitcher that held us in check and we squandered a couple of early opportunities to score. We eventually got to him. Connor had a two-out line drive to left field that put us ahead and then we went on to score nine straight runs after that. That was a huge break. The biggest takeaway from that win was we took care of the baseball. We didn’t make any errors. There were a lot of balls put in play. Overall, we played our best baseball of the season.”
Cedar Creek 8, Vermilion Catholic 7 (Saturday)
The Cougars found themselves trailing 7-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, but never flinched.
Creek sent 11 batters to the plate in the frame, scoring seven runs on three hits, four walks, one HBP and a costly throwing error by Vermilion Catholic.
Luker (2-3, RBI), Franklin (2-4, RBI), Ladd Thompson (1-2, RBI), Hayden Durrett (1-1, RBI), Brister (1-3, RBI) all recorded hits and RBI in the victory.
Brett Bell picked up the win in relief, allowing two runs (1 earned) on one hit and two walks in 1.0 inning of action. Jackson Mock was solid in relief of starter, Gavin Hall, working 4.0 innings allowing just one run on four hits and one walk.
“Gavin started the game for us,” said Yates. “They got off to a good start. Gavin competed but they were able to put the bat on the ball and get some early runs. Jackson Mock came on in relief and pitched really well. He kept the game where it was at. Offensively, we just couldn’t get anything going against those guys. We had a couple of opportunities where we came away with nothing. Our motto is to trust your teammates and your coaches and give you very best effort. These guys did that to the end.
“We were down 7-1 in the bottom of the seventh and we just kept putting at bats together, getting the next guy to the plate. That’s the unselfishness we preach. Before you know it, we had gotten to their pitcher and he was having trouble throwing strikes. That got their defense on its heels and they made a couple of errors. Every guy that came to plate gave a good effort and battled. We found ourselves down two runs with the bases loaded. We were able to hit a ball that their shortstop couldn’t handle and he overthrew first base and we were able to score the winning run. For our club it was huge.”
Doyle 7, Cedar Creek 4 (Saturday)
Cedar Creek almost made it two comebacks in a row.
The Cougars trailed 6-0 after four innings before plating four runs over the final three at bats. However, it wasn’t enough as they fell to the defending state runner-up Tigers.
Franklin (3-4, 2 RBI), Luker (2-3), Wade (1-4), Thompson (1-3, RBI), and Bister (1-2) accounted for the eight Cougar hits in the game.
Luker took the loss on the mound, allowing six runs (4 earned) on four hits and three walks while striking out six.
“They threw a really good right handed pitcher that held us in check,” said Yates. “Our goal against him was to see a lot of pitches to hopefully get his pitch count up so we could get to their pen. We eventually did that. Our kids battled. Luker started the game by striking out the side. He gave up a run in the second and then began to falter a little bit in the third inning.
“JB Robinson came in and really filled the gap for us. He threw a ton of strikes and kept the ball down in the zone and kept us within striking distance. It was 7-2 going to the seventh and again we found ourselves in position late in the game with a chance to win it, but they held us off.
“We had a lot of growing up. We had a couple of eighth graders (Cason Floyd, Eli Slocum) into games this weekend. It gives us an outlook on a couple of guys that can help us this year as eighth graders. To come out with two wins and to finish our week 3-2, we are pleased. We are just looking to get better each time out.”
