by Malcolm Butler
Grant Comeaux stepped to the plate late Saturday night with a bloodied, swollen lip.
The red-shirt freshman had been hit in the face by a pitch in the bottom of the fourth that came close to knocking him out of the game.
“It was a fast ball up and in,” said Comeaux in his post-game interview. “A little two seamer. I didn’t think it was going to hit me. It ended up running up and in, and I didn’t turn in time, and it smoked me.”
But after Tech trainers and coaches went through proper protocol to make sure the Barbe High School product was okay, Comeaux trotted to first base.
“The ball hit him in the mouth. He is bleeding,” said Tech head coach Lane Burroughs. “I was about to take him out of the game. Concussion protocol and all that stuff. He said, ‘I’m staying in.’ I didn’t feel good about it. I wasn’t sure if he was all there. It defines what this program is all about.”
Little did anyone know at the time, Comeaux’s continued presence in the ball game would lead to a heroic ending.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 10th inning.
With the game tied 5-5 with two outs, Comeaux lined a 1-2 pitch up the middle and into centerfield to score pinch runner Thaxton Berch with the winning run.
Comeaux once again trotted to first base, this time with his fist clinched and raised high into the air.
He was quickly mobbed by his teammates in celebration.
“When he was up at the plate, you just feel like it’s going to happen,” said Burroughs. “I am extremely proud of Grant. He is a winner. He came through for us tonight.”
It was a bit of redemption for Comeaux, who came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Game tied 5-5.
Comeaux was up 3-0 in the count against Liberty reliever Dylan Mathiesen. One ball or one big swing away from giving his team the lead.
However, Mathiesen threw three straight strikes as Comeaux went down swinging to end the threat.
“The at bat before he got the best of me,” said Comeaux. “The next couple of innings my mind was like ‘If I come up again, I’m going to out-tough him. I am not going to let it happen again.’ My teammates set me up in a really good position for the last inning.”
“He comes through every time,” said teammate Nate Crider. “He has been unbelievable. (Just a) freshman. He has been just unbelievable.”
Comeaux watched from south Louisiana when the Bulldogs made their run to the CUSA title game in 2021. On Saturday night he became part of the Bulldog lore with his game-winning walk-off RBI single.
“It was surreal,” said Comeaux. “The whole message today was out-tough the other team. If we make it to Sunday we won’t be denied. We just have to outlast the other team these past two games. We did exactly that.”
