The Baton Rouge Rougarou broke out of their mini slump Friday night, rallying for a 7-6 win over the Victoria Generals at Pete Goldsby Field. The Rougarou had lost three games in a row.
But they found ways to score on Friday. Trailing 5-2 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, Baton Rouge scored two in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the bottom of the sixth.
The Rougarou needed only five hits to get it done. Nicolas Schwing had a pair of singles and drove in two runs in the third. Jacob Keys and Trip Dobson also had RBIs. Ty Simonelli reached base three times when hit by a pitch. The Rougerou also were helped by five walks, four hit batters and four Victoria (6-4) errors.
And the Roug helped themselves with aggressive base running and five stolen bases.
“We were able to be tonight and that plays right into my hands,” Rougarou coach Mike Forbes said. “I love being aggressive, I love putting pressure. We were finally able to get into a rhythm where we were comfortable doing that. And what they were doing kind of made it so we could play our game. We were happy with the way they played tonight.”
Five pitchers gave up seven hits, walked five and hit only one. They struck out 12. Gabe Hodges got the win, throwing 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run on no hits, walking two and striking out two. John Wade, who retired the side in order in the ninth, picked up the save.
There were some anxious moments, though. The Rougarou (5-4) had a 2-1 lead until the Generals’ Diego Alfonso hit a grand slam off the foul pole to put his team ahead 5-2 in the top of the fifth.
But the Rougarou came back with three runs to tie in the bottom of the frame. Josh Lim drew a lead off walk, Simonelli was hit for the second time, then Keys reached on an error that scored Lim. Dobson then hit a grounder towards first that was misplayed for one error then thrown away for another, allowing Simonelli and Keys to score.
In the sixth inning, Brock Louque walked, stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch. Lim drew another walk, stole second, went to third on a walk and scored on a fielder’s choice by Dobson.
The Rougarou travel to Youngsville to play the Acadiana Cane Cutters Saturday night at Fabacher Field.
By Lori Lyons, Rougarou Writer