Louisiana loses heartbreaker to South Carolina

The Louisiana Dixie Youth All-Stars suffered only their second defeat of the season with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to South Carolina in the World Series on Saturday. Louisiana held South Carolina to only one hit in the game. However, that one hit, a two-run home run, proved to be the difference maker for South Carolina.
The first inning showed promise for both clubs, as each team loaded the bases. But timely pitching from South Carolina’s Tristan Brignac and Louisiana’s Landon Deshotel ended the inning with zeros on the scoreboard for both squads.
South Carolina opened the top of the first with two walks as Deshotel allowed a free pass to Noah Carter and Tristan Brignac. An error on Dru Scully gave South Carolina bases loaded. A wild pitch allowed all runners to advance, scoring Carter from third base. With runners at second and third with not outs, Deshotel then got John Rourke to strike out for the first out of the inning. Deshotel showed why he is one of the aces of the staff as he then struck out Jared Gorman in a crucial situation. The next batter for South Carolina, Nick Evans, meekly grounded out to Deshotel to end the inning for South Carolina.
In the bottom half of the first, Scully lead off with a fly ball to center field. Christian Duplechin then singled to center to give Louisiana its first runner of the game. Daegan Mitchell was then awarded first base on catcher interference. With runners on first and second with one out, Landon Deshotel was hit by Brignac to load the bases. Louisiana was now in business with only one out. Brignac, understanding the immediacy of the situation, struck out Lucas Vallet and Aidan Lejeune to retire the side and ended Louisiana’s scoring threat.
Both teams scored a run in the second inning. South Carolina jumped ahead in the top of the inning when Nick Hamilton scored on a wild pitch. Hamilton, the lead off hitter, got on with an error on short stop Dru Scully. After advancing on a walk to Cooper Lane, he then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. The wild pitch by Deshotel allowed Hamilton to plate the first run of the game.
Louisiana’s Cade Foret tied the ball game up in the bottom of the inning, also scoring on a wild pitch by Brignac. Foret lead off the inning with an infield single. Foret then advanced to second and third on wild pitches. The third wild pitch by Brignac in the inning allowed Foret to cross home plate.
South Carolina went ahead for good in the third inning on a two-run home run by Tristan Brignac. BoBo McKinnon was called out when the ball hit him in fair territory on an attempted bunt to lead off the inning. Noah Carter then was issued a walk by Deshotel and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Brignac then stepped to the plate and delivered what would be the knock out punch; a two-run shot over the fence. The next batter, Jared Ivy, was safe on an error and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Deshotel then struck out John Rourke and enticed Jared Gorman to ground out to Scully at short for the third out of the inning.
Ville Platte managed to plate its second run of the game in the bottom of the third. Dru Scully drew a lead off walk and then advanced to second on a base hit by Christian Duplechin. Scully then stole third base to put runners at first and third. Louisiana then used a designed play to score Scully. Duplechin took off for second base pretending to attempt a steal. When the catcher threw the ball down to the second baseman to try to get Duplechin out, the second baseman dropped the ball, allowing Scully to advance home and score. A heads-up Duplechin headed to second base. The third batter of the inning for Louisiana, Daegan Mitchell, then drew the second walk of the inning. South Carolina made a pitching change in the middle of the inning. Taking over for Brignac was John Rourke. The first batter to face Rourke was Landon Deshotel who hit a pop up to the third baseman for the first out of the inning. Lucas Vallet executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Duplechin and Mitchell to put runners on second and third with two outs. However, Louisiana was shut down when Aidan Lejeune grounded to second base for the third out of the inning.
Christian Duplechin started the fourth inning on the mound for Louisiana. Duplechin was on fire, striking out Evans and Hamilton to begin the inning. The third hitter in the top of the fourth inning for South Carolina, Cooper Lane, grounded out to Lejeune at first base to end the at bat.
Louisiana came in to the bottom of the inning looking to somehow tie the game up. Jaden Prudhomme led off for Louisiana and grounded out to the shortstop for the first out. Jacques Leger hit a pop up to the first baseman for the second out. Noah Soileau then grounded out to the third baseman for the final out of the inning.
The fifth inning saw another pitcher’s duel between Duplechin and Rourke. South Carolina sent up McKinnon to lead off the top of the inning followed by Carter. Both McKinnon and Carter struck out for the first two outs of the inning. Duplechin then got Brignac to ground out to Vallet at third base to end the top half of the fifth.
Louisiana tried once again to gain some momentum at the plate against Rourke. But the South Carolina pitcher would not allow it. Dru Scully led off the inning for Louisiana. Scully grounded out to shortstop for the first out. Christian Duplechin then did something he has not done a whole lot this year; strike out. With two outs, Daegan Mitchell came to the plate. Rourke once again proved his dominance over the Louisiana hitters as he struck out Mitchell for the third out.
The sixth inning for South Carolina showed some offensive promise. After Jared Ivy grounded to second for the first out, Rourke drew a walk from Duplechin. Gorman struck out for the second out of the half inning. The fourth batter of the inning for South Carolina, Nick Evans, was hit by Duplechin, giving South Carolina runners at first and second with two outs. However, Duplechin gritted his teeth and stuck out Hamilton for the final out.
Louisiana came to bat in the bottom of the sixth needing one run to tie the game and send it into extra innings. The first batter of the bottom of the sixth for Louisiana was Landon Deshotel. Deshotel hit a pop up to the shortstop for the first out. Next up to face Rourke was Lucas Vallet. Rourke struck Vallet to record the second out of the inning. The final hope for Louisiana was Aidan Lejeune. Rourke struck out Lejeune to end the game. The final strike out was the fourth of the ball game for Rourke.
Louisiana Head Coach Thomas Scully was very gracious in the loss. “South Carolina is a very good team. Their pitching did a tremendous job against us. They started with the left-hander (Brignac) who kept us off balance the whole time he was in the game. The second pitcher (Rourke) threw a lot of heat. So when you can use a combination like they had it’s tough on the hitters to adjust.” South Carolina pitchers only allowed five hits for the entire ball game while striking out seven and only giving up three walks.
Even with the loss, Coach Scully was pleased with the effort of his players. “I thought both Landon and Christian did a tremendous job on the mound this afternoon. Landon worked out of a jam in the first inning and Christian came in and did his usual yeoman’s job in relief. The only blemish was the one hit in the game. Its just unfortunate it happened to be a home run. Actually, this was one of Deshotel’s best outings of the season.”
Deshotel ended the game giving up two earned runs on one hit, while striking out five South Carolina hitters. He also issued four walks and threw four wild pitches. Duplechin allowed no hits, while striking out six batters from South Carolina. He issued one walk and hit a batter and threw one wild pitch.
Duplechin led Louisiana at the plate going 2 for 3. Daegan Mitchell was 1 for 2 with a walk and a RBI. Jaden Prudhomme was 1 for 2, with Cade Foret going 1 for 1.
Head Coach Thomas Scully commented after the game about the tough loss. “This was an eye opener for our team considering that it was only our second loss of the season. Tomorrow is a new day. We are definitely not out of it. This team is very resilient. We will relax tonight, let the kids swim and come out and have fun tomorrow. We are going to stay with the same mindset that got us here, which is to have fun and get better every day.”
Louisiana will continue play in the World Series on Sunday. The second game for Louisiana will be at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time (2:30 Central). They will play the winner of Florida and the host team Gilbert, South Carolina. At press time, it appeared Florida would take the win.