Pitching dominates as Dolphins take pair from Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS – Delgado Community College enjoyed complete-game pitching performances from Carson Lore and Chris Olivier, and Nunez Community College was unable to support a pair of solid mound efforts of their own as the Dolphins won both games of Saturday afternoon’s doubleheader at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.

As a tandem, Lore and Olivier yielded just one earned run apiece and 5 hits total, and kept the Nunez hitters off-balance all day, with Pelicans unable to generate any offensive thrust past the second inning of the opener to support starters Levi Brewster in Game 1 or Cole Bordes in Game 2.

GAME 1 – DELGADO  4   NUNEZ  3

The Pelicans opened the day with an unearned run in the top of the first as Kyle Landry reached on an infield error, stole second, and scored on Collin Zeringue’s hard-ground single into centerfield.  But the Dolphins then grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom half on Josh Alexander’s line-drive homer to right-center that also scored Bryan Broussard who had opened with a single.

Nunez took back the lead in the second as Payton Cooper reached on another infield misplay, and Caleb Webb followed with a fly-ball homer to left that stretched just out of the reach of a leaping Tyler Cook. DCC then tied it at 3-3 in the bottom half as Jhonnatan Ferrebus opened with a single to center, advanced to second on a passed ball, and then scored station-to-station on a pair of infield groundouts.

The home team next plated the deciding run in the fourth as Brock Slaton doubled to left-center and then tagged up and scored on a pair of fly balls in right field to Noah Detillier, who the next inning came up with the defensive gem of the day when he made a spectacular belly-to-ground diving stab of Broussard’s liner into the right-center gap, and then rose and fired to first to double off Cade Pregeant who was running on the pitch.

The Pelicans wasted another strong start from Brewster, who limited the potent Dolphin offense to 3 earned runs and 5 hits over his 5.2 innings on the hill.  Reliever Ira Austin then entered and faced just one batter to end the sixth on a strikeout of pinch-hitter Cole Stromboe.

Landry got the only other hit off Lore in the game, leading off the sixth with a line single to give the Pels a chance to tie, but Lore bore down and retired the next 3 batters on a fly out, pop out, and ground out, and then closed it out with a 1-2-3 seventh to record the victory.

                  Nunez –   120 000 0 –   3   3   1

               Delgado –   210 100 x –   4   5   2                   

                 W – Lore.   L – Brewster.

            Brewster, Austin (6) and Manson. 

                      Lore and Singletary.

          2B – Slaton.  HR – Alexander, Webb. 

                           SF – Ferrebus

GAME 2 – DELGADO  7   NUNEZ  1

Nunez could manage just a single run in the third as a hustling Detillier walked, beat a fielder’s choice toss at second, and then raced home on Zeringue’s long double into the right-center alley.  But that was all the Pel offense could muster against Olivier, who did not allow another serious threat, facing just 2 batters over the minimum over the final four frames.

Meanwhile, Delgado had jumped ahead in the second with a 2-out rally as, after a pair of line-drive singles from Ferrebus and Jake Kaufman, the Pelican infield was unable to make the play on a pair of high-chopping infield grounders that resulted in 2 runs scoring.  The Dolphins then stretched it to 3-1 in the bottom of the third on Jacob Singletary’s line-drive homer to right center.

The home team next plated a pair of runs in the fourth on a line single to left, 2 infield singles, and a pair of walks to make it 5-1, and then added 2 more in the fifth on a single followed by 3 consecutive walks and a wild pitch, before Nunez reliever Willy Flynn entered and shut off the rally with a pair of inning-ending strikeouts.

Aidan Lambert got the only other hit off Olivier with a 1-out line single to center in the fourth inning.

                   Nunez –  001 000 0 –   1   2  0

                 Delgado – 021 220 x –   7   9  0                      

                    W – Olivier.   L – Bordes.

               Bordes, Flynn (5) and Rohlfs.

                      Olivier and Singletary.

                2B – Zeringue,   HR – Singletary.

Zeringue led the Nunez offense on the afternoon, reaching base 3-of-6 times on a single, double, and walk, and driving in 2 of the 4 runs.

NEXT UP:

The Pelicans will try to even the 4-game series, starting Sunday at 1PM and concluding Tuesday at 6PM, both games scheduled for 9 innings from Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.