Baseball: Road warrior Destrehan returns home, stops Jesuit

DESTREHAN – Having played its first 13 games away from home, Destrehan was eager to finally play a game on its own campus.

That time finally arrived Thursday. So did the Wildcats.

It was the opening day of the annual Gerard Oubre Memorial Tournament. The scoreboard was not working.

With TJ Thomas on the mound for the Wildcats, the Jesuit half of the scoreboard went dark until the final inning.

Thomas blanked the Blue Jays for six innings before settling for a complete game 3-1 victory.

Thomas allowed just one run on five hits and had impeccable command, walking no one and striking out 10 while throwing just 89 pitches.

“I was just trying to come out and throw strikes,” Thomas said. “That’s what I’ve been doing in my other starts, it’s been working so I just wanted to keep it going, keep hitting my spots. Coach (Chris) Mire is big on getting the first pitch over and getting the first man out. It definitely felt good being that guy on the mound for our first home game.”

Mire was very pleased with his team’s performance.

“It was a quality win,” Mire said. “The last time we played Jesuit was in the state tournament for legion and they put it on us pretty good. Our guys knew it was a quality opponent. I was very proud of the way we went about our business. TJ Thomas did the rest and took control. That’s kind of what he’s been doing all year. That’s a typical TJ performance right there.”

The Wildcats took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Dustin Weber singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ahman Morris and scores on a bloop single to right by Max Jacob to give Destrehan a 1-0 lead.

Destrehan extended the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning as Will Moran walked both Cade Tramuta and Dylan Weber and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Ty Yoes drove home Tramuta with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, ending the afternoon for Moran on the mound.

Gannon Hyer took over for Jesuit and he uncorked a wild pitch, scoring courtesy runner Josh Vicknair to make it 3-0. Hyer then settled in and pitched very well the rest of the way.

The Blue Jays awakened in the top of the seventh inning. Zack Cassebonne singled and Tripp Haddad reached on a throwing error by Thomas. Seth Dardar drove home Cassebonne with a sacrifice fly to deep center to make it 3-1.

Jesuit coach Kenny Goodlett gave Thomas credit.

“He did a nice job going in and out, it seemed like we never got in a rhythm,” Goodlett said. “He’s a good pitcher, we’ve got to do a better job of putting pressure on him,” Goodlett said. “We’ve got to do a better job of getting on base and making things happen. I was disappointed with the outcome, not with the effort.”

The tournament continues Friday Jesuit will host Country Day of Fort Worth, TX at 1:45 p.m. at John Ryan Stadium. Destrehan will host Brother Martin and Holy Cross Saturday, beginning at 2 p.m.

Destrehan should get better as the Wildcats get healthier after having missed key players due to injuries.

“We’ve had four infielders playing in positions they were not expected to be in but it’s a testament to our guys. It’s always something, a long road trip, weather but our guys being a senior heavy team, we stayed calm and rolled with the punches.”

Final
JHS 000 000 1 — 1 5 0, 4 LOB
DHS 001 200 x — 3 5 2, 4 LOB
WP—TJ Thomas (5-0)
LP—Will Moran
Time of Game: 1:29