Photograph: Jay Lavergne (Submitted Photograph.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Cade Robin pitched a state tournament masterpiece at Theriot Field Monday afternoon as the St. Landry Bank Indians manufactured a come-from-behind victory over Retif Oil.
Robin threw all six innings and allowed two hits during the elimination bracket game as the Indians remained one of four teams left to capture the 2023 American Legion championship with the 4-2 win.
The Indians are scheduled to play a quarterfinal round contest again either the Lafayette Drillers or Gauthier Amedee on Tuesday. Bossier, which defeated the Indians 10-0 on Saturday, is the other team remaining in the tournament.
Jesuit High-based Retif led 2-0 until the bottom of the third inning St. Landry Bank tied things at two,after Grayson Davis homered.
In the fourth the Indians scored another pair of runs as Robin held Retif scoreless the remainder of the way.
The Indians played errorless defense behind Robin, who recorded seven strikeouts.
“(Robin) had a lot of strikeouts and his breaking ball seemed to be working well all afternoon. We are pretty deep with our pitching staff, but Cade is the guy that we knew could carry us when we needed to win,” said Indians’ head coach Jack Brown.
Davis had a productive afternoon, with two hits in three at-bats. Bryce Schexnayder also provided a pair of hits and an RBI.
Brenn Ray, Briggs Ardoin, Jack Purser, Julian Perron and Jay Lavergne all provided hits for the Indians.
“Offensively we started kind of slow. We were kept off balance early, but we started hitting better as we went through the (batting) order a second time,” Brown said.
With potentially three games remaining for the Indians, Brown said he and assistant coach Jessie Roy will now have to make decisions on the pitchers who are available for the remainder of the tourney which is scheduled to conclude Wednesday.
Due to the number of innings thrown on Monday, Robin has been scratched as a possible pitcher.
Taylor Hollier is scheduled to start the Tuesday game, with Ardoin potentially scheduled for relief.
“We still have a number of arms available. It’s just a matter of deciding who is going to fit the circumstance,” Brown said.
The Indians lost catcher Bennett Fontenot for the remainder of the tournament due to an injury that occurred in the 8-0 Sunday win over host Abbeville, said Brown.
A family emergency has also eliminated another Indians’ starting pitcher, Brown added.
The loss of Fontenot has forced the Indians to position Brenn Ray at catcher, an issue which Brown said also affects the Indians’ pitching staff.
“Brenn is usually our closer, so that creates a problem. We’ve had some adversity since the tournament began, but as I’ve told the team, it’s up to us now to fight through this and get it done,” Brown said..
.
