Pelicans take weekend series with Bears behind pitching and defense

Chalmette – Freshman Ashtyn Ellis started a 7th-inning rally with a line single, and 3 batters later Collin Zeringue smashed a 2-run walk-off homer to centerfield to end Game 1, and then Payton Cooper tossed a complete game, 4-hit shutout in Game 2, as Nunez Community College recorded a pair of 1-run victories over Baton Rouge Community College on a pleasant Saturday afternoon at Chalmette High’s Suarez Stadium.

Zeringue and Alex Crews each blasted a homer and double for Nunez in the opener, and then the home team had to turn to small ball in Game 2, while having to rely on superb pitching and solid defense in both games to successfully complete the sweep.

So impressive was the pitching and defense from both teams that all four of the day’s starting hurlers went the distance, as the bullpen gates stayed closed for the full 14 innings.

GAME 1 – NUNEZ  5   BATON ROUGE  4   (7 innings)

Nunez jumped out to 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third with a 2-out rally as Crews launched a solo homer deep over the left-field wall, and Cooper followed with a hard-ground single to right. After Zeringue walked, Landon Manson lined a sharp single to left to plate Cooper from second.

BRCC cut it to 2-1 in the top of the fourth with Braden McLin’s solo 2-out homer that just cleared the centerfield screen.  Then in the fifth, the Bears took advantage of a 2-out throwing error on a swinging strike 3 in the dirt to plate a pair of unearned runs.  After Jacob Dunn’s lead-off single, a dropped pickoff throw allowed Dunn to reach second, and then a fielding error on Collin Dupre’s infield grounder put runners safely on the corners with one-out.  Then after a pop-out and a Dupre swipe of second, John Touchet reached safely on the strikeout, with Dunn and Dupre able to race home on the subsequent throw into right field.   The 3-error inning was the only defensive meltdown for the Pels on the day.

After Baton Rouge took a 4-2 lead in the top of the seventh on a walk, wild pitch, and Dupre’s ground chopper into centerfield, Pelican starter Cole Bordes recorded his second strikeout of the inning, after which Manson nailed Dupre attempting to steal for the third out.  Bordes finished the game, having gone all 7 innings, yielding just 2 earned runs and 7 hits, while recording 7 kayos.

The Pels then won it for Bordes in the bottom of the seventh, as after Ellis led off with his dart to left and moved up on a wild pitch, Crews lined a sinking double to center just out of reach of a diving Touchet to score Ellis. Then after Cooper moved Crews to third with a groundout, Zeringue stepped in and lined a first-pitch fastball over the wall in center to win it for the Pels.

John Shahrdar pitched a complete 6.1 innings for BRCC in taking the loss after scattering 8 hits and striking out 2.

                    BRCC –   000 120 1 –   4   7  0

                      Nunez –  002 000 3 –   5   8  3

                  One out when winning run scored.

                          Shahrdar (L) and Joyner.

                         Bordes (W) and Manson.  

                           2B – Zeringue, Crews. 

                    HR – McLin, Zeringue, Crews.

GAME 2 –  NUNEZ  1   BATON ROUGE  0  (7 innings)

The game was a classic pitching duel between Cooper and Baton Rouge’s Ethan Prescott, with Cooper yielding just 4 hits with 7 strikeouts, and Prescott surrendering only three hits while striking out 6.  There were no earned runs or extra base hits in the game, and through the first 4 and a half innings only one runner reached as far as third base.

The Pelicans managed to scratch across the game’s only run in the bottom of the fifth without a ball being put in play past the pitcher’s mound.  Davison Stokes led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by James Bendeck.   Ellis’ dribbler to the first base side of the mound was then fumbled into foul territory to put runners on first and third.  Then, an attempted safety squeeze by Crews turned into a bunt single with Stokes holding at third.  With the sacks now full with one out, Cooper, who doubled as designated hitter in the game, was hit-by-pitch to force in Stokes with the unearned run to make it 1-0.  With the bases still loaded, Prescott was then able to wiggle out of the inning on an infield fly and groundout.

Cooper then took the mound in the top of the sixth and proceeded to retire the last six batters of the game in order on 3 strikeouts, 2 line-outs, and a groundout, the latter being the defensive gem of the day as Aidan Lambert made a hard-diving snag in short-centerfield on McLin’s ground smash up the middle, and then rolling over to fire a strike to Zeringue at first to record the out.

Besides Crews, Dylan Jimenez was the only Pelican to record a hit against Prescott, going 2-for-3 on a pair of hard-hit singles to centerfield.    

                     BRCC –  000 000 0 – 0  4  1

                     Nunez –  000 010 x –  1  3  0

                      Prescott (L) and Menard.

                      Cooper (W) and Manson.  

SERIES NOTES:

• With Saturday’s sweep, the Pels take 3 of the 4 games on the weekend.
• For the afternoon offensively, Dupre went 4-for 7 for BRCC with an RBI, while Crews led Nunez at the plate with a 3-for-7 day with 2 RBI’s and 2 runs scored.
• Bendeck followed up his great offensive day on Friday by defensively recording 6 assists and a put-out without an error for a 1.000 fielding percentage on the day.
• Manson nabbed 4 of 6 runners attempting to run on him, while also recording an assist on a ball in play.
• Nunez and BRCC will meet again in 3 weeks as they will close out their regular-season schedules with a 3-game series in Baton Rouge.

NEXT UP:

The Pelicans will close out their 2023 home schedule next weekend April 15-16, as they begin the second and final round of Region 23 conference play against Delgado Community College in Chalmette.  The teams with play a 3-game series that will include a Saturday doubleheader and Sunday single game.  The Dolphins, who had a bye in conference play this weekend, need just one victory in the series to clinch the regular season title.  First pitch both days from Suarez Stadium will be 1 PM.  Nunez students, faculty, and staff will be admitted free with Nunez ID.