Crowley stuns seventh-ranked Rayne

RAYNE – The last time Rayne and Crowley squared off on the diamond, Wolves senior pitcher Tony Dischler gave the Gents all they could handle in a 2-1 loss.

Tuesday, the Gents gave Dischler all he could handle.

The Gents ripped the UL-Monroe signee for 11 hits and 13 runs in a District 5-AAA matchup here and walked away with a stunning 13-3 run-rule victory over Rayne at the Wolves’ home park.

With the victory, the Gents improved to 11-8 on the season and 3-2 in league play. The Wolves fell to 16-6 and 4-1.

“We tried to motivate the kids by telling them that, basically, our reputation as a team was that we had three hitters,” said Crowley High coach Christian Doughty. “You can’t win with three hitters.”

The Gents apparently took that criticism to heart. Seven of the nine Crowley batters finished with at least one hit.

“We hit the ball well. A lot of times the ball was on the ground and when it wasn’t, it was line drives,” said Doughty. “I think that contributed a lot to our success today. We feel like tonight, we showed that can produce if we put our minds to it.”

And produce they did.

The Gents led 2-1 and had just three hits heading into the top of the fifth inning.

Unfortunately for Rayne, that’s when the wheels fell off.

The Gents sent 14 batters to the plate in the inning, recording eight hits and 11 runs in chasing Dischler from the mound.

“Tony didn’t have his A game and he struggled at the plate hitting some spots,” said Rayne High coach Benny Fontenot. “We had success early in the game coming in on batters. But in the fifth, we just couldn’t get it there. We hit a few batters and they came up with some big hits.”

Dischler gave up two walks and hit two batters in the fifth which was capped by a towering three-run home run to left by senior catcher Mike Doughty.

Following the home run, Coy Guidry entered the game in relief of Dischler and got Kyron Benoit to ground out to the mound for the third out.

“You know, hindsight, maybe I left Tony in too long,” said Fontenot. “But he’s our senior, he’s our go-to guy. And, plus, when you look at your bullpen, they are on the field. You have five arms that can throw, but everybody was on the field. I thought maybe we’d give up two or three (runs).

“Tony can shut it down and I can get someone loose in the bullpen. You can’t do that. I don’t have that luxury because my five pitchers are on the field and that’s the reason I left him in so long.”

Rayne’s struggles weren’t limited to the mound. The Wolves had opportunities on the base path, but they couldn’t capitalize. They left 11 runners stranded, nine in scoring position.

“After the third inning today, we had left six runners in scoring position,” said Fontenot. “I’m not taking anything away from Crowley, they swung the bats when they needed to and they just flat out beat us. But, at the same time, we helped them by not taking advantage of scoring opportunities.

“When you get a chance early against a good team like that and you don’t come across with runs, they keep feeding off that. They kept swinging the bats and they got hot. Once they got the momentum, it’s hard to beat a good team like that.”

Crowley’s Jake Trahan picked up the win, despite battling through control problems of his own. The sophomore hurler gave up five hits but walked six and hit one. He struck out four.

“Jake didn’t have his best stuff today, but he’s a competitor and he continued to work and battle through it,” said Doughty. “We bent, but we didn’t break. We were able to get ourselves out of a few early jams where they did have some good opportunities to put some runs up.”

Doughty led a foursome of Gents with two hits on the night. Beau Desselle was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, Seth Beglis had two hits and one RBI and Nick Hoffpauir was 2-for-2 with two RBI.

Hoffpauir, a freshman third baseman, has now hit a home run in each of the Gents’ last three games for a total of four on the season.

“Nick has come on strong,” said Doughty. “He has somewhat of an uppercut swing and he’s worked real hard on correcting that. When he centers the ball, he has tremendous pop for a young guy. When he gets hold of it, he can hit it a long way.”

Also contributing in the victory were Chad Hoffpauir and Tyler Dupuis, each with one hit and two RBI and Jake Trahan had one hit.

Rayne’s Chris Bourque had two hits and one RBI in the loss and Broc Menard had one hit and one RBI. Boyd Beard and Nick Pryor each had one hit.

The victory was pivotal for the Gents, who finished the first round of district play at 2-2 after dropping a pair of contests to Rayne and Notre Dame. The Gents are now one game out of first place behind both Wolves and the Pios.

“This was a big win for us,” said Doughty. “We came into the second round in third play which basically puts you on the bubble in terms of the playoffs so every district win is huge. And to come in and play like we did against a very good ballclub, you have to be real pleased with the kids.”

Crowley will return to action this afternoon when they travel to Cecilia to take on Class AAA’s third-ranked Bulldogs in a non-district contest. First pitch is slated for 4 o’clock.

Rayne will also be in action today when they travel to Church Point for a 4 p.m. league contest.