Indians roll past Oilers
By Tom Dodge
A win would have put the Eunice Oilers in the driver’s seat for the District Seven East title.
Instead four double plays in the first four innings kept Eunice off the scoreboard early and the Opelousas Indians scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth to grab an 8-2 win Tuesday at Westminster Christian Academy.
Eunice (4-4) entertains Jennings 7 p.m. today before closing District play Tuesday against the Blue Jays at North Park.
“We need to beat Jennings and the Blue Jays to put us at 6-4 and that should be good enough for first or second,” Eunice head coach Danny Soileau said. “If we could have won tonight it would have been pretty much wrapped up and we only needed to win one of the last two. Now we have to win the last two.”
The Indians (3-4) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when lead-off hitter Seth Jarrell singled and scored on a single by Seth Dupre.
The Oilers tied the game 1-1 in the top of the second when Brett Baldwin, Beau Leger and Austin Young all walked to load the bases.
Baldwin scored when Casey Charlie hit into a double play as the Oilers seemed poised to take control of the game but could not move any more base runners across.
“I really felt when we had the bases loaded with nobody out we should have broken the game open,” Soileau said of the missed opportunity. “The game would have been over.
The Indians surged ahead in the bottom of the third when Kyle Vidrine singled and scored on a single by Dupre.
Opelousas then threatened to break the game open when Oiler starting pitcher Jacque Fruge gave up a single to Caleb Castille and walked Cody Vidrine to load the bases.
But the Oiler defense stiffened and shut down the two-out rally before the Indians could add to their 2-1 lead.
“Four double plays just kind of broke our backs and took away the momentum,” Soileau said. “You have to give Opelousas credit they hit the ball well.”
Opelousas put the game away in the bottom of the fifth as 10 Indians batted in the inning for a 7-1 advantage.
Kyle Arnaud and Dupre singled off Fruge and then Dustin Ardoin doubled off reliever Brett Baldwin to plate Arnaud.
Castille singled to score Dupre then Vidrine was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After an infield fly by Nick Artall for the first out, Matt Kolb was also hit by Baldwin to push Ardoin across for the 6-1 advantage.
Seth Jarrell’s fielder’s choice RBI scored Castille before Arnaud finally grounded out to third baseman Fruge to end the inning.
Opelousas added a run in the bottom of the sixth stanza when Dupre (4-for-4) doubled to centerfield and scored on a double down the left field line by Castille (3-for-4).
Eunice attempted a rally in the top of the seventh when Ethan Hatler singled and scored on Jacob Fontenot’s single, but the Oilers could not get any closer.