The Baton Rouge Rougarou were feeling a little déjà vu Sunday night at Pete Goldsby Field. For the second night in a row, the Rougarou had fought back to tie the Sherman Shadowcats late, but the Shadowcats had taken the lead in the top of the ninth and were threatening to sweep their series.
But this time, the gris gris went the other way and the Rougarou escaped with an 8-7 victory. Actually, they kind of stole it.
Trailing 7-6 with one out in the ninth inning, Taylor Walters walked and Dathan Cummings doubled. Ty Simonelli singled to score Walters. After a Sherman pitching change – to the same pitcher who closed out Saturday night’s game – Trip Dobson popped out to first base for the second out.
Shortly after, Cummings attempted to steal third. At first he was ruled out and the players left the field. But, after a brief meeting between the umpires, the call was overturned and Cummings was ruled safe.
Cummings then told coach Mike Forbes, “Coach, I can make it.”
To which Forbes replied, “What’s it going to hurt?”
Simonelli stole second easily, then Cummings took a lead off of third to try and force a balk. The pitcher threw to third and Cummings sprinted home ahead of the third baseman’s throw home.
The Rougarou then chased Cummings into the outfield for scoring the winning run.
“If I was gambling tonight, I guess I beat the house,” Forbes said. “This was a morale booster because, early in the game, we just look defeated and lethargic. We didn’t have a lot of energy. It takes some mental toughness to show up every day in this heat and you’re not in the playoffs and you need some help. I think this gave us a little jolt where hopefully we can have some good fortune go our way. All we need to is get in (to the playoffs).”
The Rougarou’s playoff hopes are still alive but they do need help from the Texas teams. Sunday’s win has them 3 ½ games out of first place in the second half standings with six games remaining.
It was the first time the Rougarou defeated the Shadowcats in their four meetings and improved the team’s record to 18-21 on the season.
Baton Rouge had to battle hard for this one. Sherman scored four runs in the top of the third on two hits, an error and back-to-back walks.
The Rougarou cut that lead to 4-2 in the fourth with the help of three Sherman errors, a hit batter and a run-scoring single by Bryson Jones.
Baton Rouge trailed 5-3 heading into the seventh when they scored three runs on three consecutive walks, a run-scoring wild pitch and a 2-run double by Dobson to lead 6-5.
The Shadowcats tied it in the eighth after a leadoff walk, a hit batter, an RBI grounder, and an intentional walk. But relief pitcher Garrett Walker got the Rougarou out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.
The Shadowcats regained the lead in the top of the ninth on a pair of hits, a walk and a wild pitch.
By Lori Lyons, Rougarou Writer