By Lori Lyons, Rougarou Writer
It’s been a long couple of nights for the Baton Rouge Rougarou.
On Thursday they got a late 10-inning 10-9 win over Seguin. Friday night the team made the trip from Baton Rouge to Youngsville to play the Cane Cutters at 7 p.m., but Mother Nature intervened to push the game back to a 9:30 start and the Rougarou lost 9-2 shortly after midnight.
Sunday didn’t go as planned either.
The Rougarou took a 3-0 lead in the second inning and led 5-2 after five before the Acadiana Cane Cutters rallied for two runs in the sixth, one in the seventh and two in the eighth to take a 7-5 win at Pete Goldsby Field. Prior to the game the Rougarou organization celebrated the life of Central baseball player Caleb Easterling, who was killed in a car wreck earlier this month.
This was the ninth meeting between the Cane Cutters and the Rougarou this season in the I-10 Basin Battle. Acadiana leads the series 6-3 with two games remaining. More importantly, the two teams are battling against Sequin for the final two playoff spots in the Texas Collegiate League. The Rougarou currently lead Acadiana by half a game and Seguin by two.
Sunday night the Rougarou just proved to be a little too generous. The pitching staff walked nine batters and hit three more, plus there were a few passed balls, wild pitches and three errors.
Jack Hill got the start, going five innings in which he allowed two runs on four hits, walked four and struck out one. D.J. Primeaux pitched 1 2-3, giving up three runs on two hits, with three walks. Will Riley picked up the loss after giving up two runs on two hits in one-third of an inning. Cowan Alfonso threw one inning, striking out one, and Connor Spenser threw one scoreless inning, walking two and striking out two to get out of a bases-loaded jam.
The Rougarou outhit Acadiana 11-9. Mozell Little III had two hits, including a 3-run home run in the second inning. Landrey Wilkerson went 3-for-5 with one RBI. Davis Meche was 2-for-5 and T.J. Grines was 2-for-5 with one run scored.
Saturday night, the Rougarou gave up three runs in the fourth and six in the seventh before scoring two runs in the top of the eighth. The teams did not play a ninth inning. Baton Rouge finished with six hits, two by Josh Shelly. Ethan Brister took the loss as six different pitchers saw the mound, including newcomer Mike Mason in the sixth, Wilkerson in the seventh and Meche in the eighth.
The Cane Cutters and the Rougarou will meet for the 10th time Monday night at 7 p.m. at Goldsby Field. On Tuesday the Rougarou will host Seguin.