Delgado preps for postseason with series win over top-ranked LSU-Eunice

Heading into Saturday, it was not the best of times for Delgado.

The Dolphins had dropped three straight games.

Still, there was the confidence of knowing on the part of Delgado players and coaches that this was a good team, a team that had won 21 straight games before losing three times at LSU-Eunice back on April 6-7, although the Dolphins were missing eight players in those games.

After seeing the 21-game win streak end, Delgado had posted a less than impressive 4-5 record.

Dating back to 2022, Delgado had lost eight straight games to seven-time NJCAA Division II national champion LSU-Eunice. The Bengals, ranked No.1 in the nation this season, demolished Delgado 10-0 in game one of a three-game series Friday at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium. LSU-Eunice looked the part of the top junior college team in the nation as Blake Lobell moved to 12-0 on the season with a five-hit shutout, Evan Joubert belted a grand slam and the Bengals put on a clinic bunting the ball to perfection.

Delgado’s confidence returned Saturday and Sunday.

In game two Saturday, the Dolphins blanked LSU-Eunice 2-0 behind the pitching of Michael Hotard, Remy Marsh and Brady Schmidt as Jack Walker and Rhett Centanni each drove in a run.

Schmidt got the save, his sixth of the year, on the same day his sister, Archbishop Chapelle sophomore Kelsie Schmidt, won a state softball championship in Sulphur with the Chipmunks. Brady pitched in a state championship game in Sulphur in 2023 for Archbishop Rummel, pitching a terrific game but losing 1-0 to Jesuit.

“LSU-Eunice is really good,” Schmidt said. “I’m excited to go into the playoffs with good momentum to see what we can do. We had a lot of confidence and really showed it today. It’s exciting for Kelsie. She’s just a sophomore and she won state. It’s exciting for my family. I couldn’t do it so she had to do it. I told just go out there and see the ball and hit the ball. I think we’re starting to hit the ball and our pitching is stepping up at the right time.”

Schmidt is unscored upon in 13 appearances this season.

The rubber game between the Dolphins and Bengals took place today at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.

With the wind gusting up to 20 miles per hour, the Dolphins showed they are that team that won 21 straight games earlier in the season, playing outstanding baseball in a 5-2 victory to win the series.

FINishing the regular season on a high note. 🐬🆙 pic.twitter.com/nD9NaHAV0W

— Delgado Athletics (@delgadodolphins) April 28, 2024

“We won 21 games in a row this year,” Delgado coach Joe Scheuermann said. “We’re a pretty good club and we lost our swagger a little bit in the last 10 days for one reason or another. Watching kids step up against a team like this after getting beat pretty bad the first game makes you proud. The kids did a nice job on the mound. We had a pretty good plan to spread our guys out, trying to get them in rotation for next week. It worked to our benefit. Christian had been pressing, pressing, pressing. He’s a great kid who plays hard every day. His talent is his talent. We put him down in the lineup today and took a little pressure off him.”

Connor Achee and Josh Pierce each pitched three innings, allowing just one run apiece. Pierce picked up the win, giving up a run on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts after Achee, who started, allowed a run on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

Alex Laiche, who had struggled of late, came up big with an outstanding performance. Laiche went three scoreless innings to pick up the save, allowing thee hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

At the plate, Centanni broke out of a mini slump with a pair of doubles, including an RBI double in the fifth inning. Giovanni Licciardi had two hits, including a double and an RBI.

The big bat and the big development was shortstop Christian Westcott breaking out of a slump, going 3-for-3 with a two-run home run, an RBI double and a single. Westcott also walked and played a flawless defensive game.

Christian Westcott’s two run homerun in the second puts Delgado on the board, 2-0 over LSU-Eunice through two. pic.twitter.com/rrS2qdvCZ2

— Delgado Athletics (@delgadodolphins) April 28, 2024

A year ago, Westcott was expected to be the starting shortstop and a star for the Dolphins. An accident left him injured and unable to play in 2023 and Westcott was a spectator as the Dolphins made a run to the NJCAA Division I World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.

“Been struggling, the team has always been behind me so to actually come through in a big game like that felt good,” Westcott said. “Going into the postseason with a series win against a good ballclub in LSU-Eunice is huge. It puts us in the right direction. To come through in a big game was definitely awesome. It wasn’t easy missing last year. I put my head down and with the power of prayer, I was able to come back and do it. The goal is to get to Grand Junction.”

Having missed a year, it was understandable that Westcott would come back rusty. Suffice it to say that he has knocked the rust off at the right time, just in time for the postseason and his physical presence at the plate can give Delgado lineup depth and extra punch heading into the Region XXIII tournament starting Thursday afternoon at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium. The top two finishers advance to the eight-team South District championship in Oxford, Alabama May 8-12. The winner there heads to the World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The Bengals (44-7), a brilliant program with a brilliant coach, are still primed to make a run at an eighth NJCAA Division II title under Jeff Willis, a Hall of Fame coach who has won 1,039 games in 22 seasons.

With key players finding their strokes and key pitchers stepping up, Delgado (35-14) appears primed to make another postseason run in 2024 with a young team featuring just two key returning players from its 2023 World Series team. The new players are no longer new and the young players have grown up for Scheuermann, a Hall of Fame coach with 1,172 wins in 34 seasons.

“We’re doing what we need to do,” Scheuermann said. “We just need to continue to play good baseball. You win 10 out of 12 against your region opponents and you start over. I just got finish telling the kids it’s day one to our next goal, to get focused in on playing the best we can play and see what happens.”