Broussard hurls Gents past Carencro

CARENCRO – LSU-Eunice commitment Ben Broussard got his first start of the 2015 prep baseball season on Thursday and he made sure it was a memorable one.
The hard-throwing senior right hander held Carencro to just four hits and allowed just one earned run, helping the Gents slip past the Carencro Bears, 4-2 in a non-district outing.
“Ben did a heck of a job out there today,” said CHS coach Christian Doughty, whose team improved to 2-1 with the victory. “We were really pleased because we didn’t feel like he had his best stuff today. I felt like that (performance) really showed something; to not have his best fastball and still be able to shut Carencro down like he did was something.”
Broussard walked just one in earning the complete-game victory. He struck out six.
The Gents’ offense did its job, too, by contributing six hits, including five off Carencro ace Jacob Norman.
The Bears also robbed the Gents of a couple of hits when Carencro shortstop Koi Westbrook made a highlight-reel backhanded grab and threw out Bubba Daigle for one out and second baseman Ashtin Choplin made a diving play to take a possible hit away from Haden Erbe.
“You know, we faced a quality arm today and I felt like we hit a pretty capable pitcher,” said Doughty of Norman, a Blinn Junior College signee. “I think five hits off a guy of his caliber is pretty good.”
Alex Ashby had probably the most impressive day at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBI.
He singled up the middle to start the first inning, nearly taking Norman’s head off. From there he stole second base, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Zack Breaux and then scored on a wild pitch.
In the fourth inning, Ashby came up clutch again.
With two runners on and the scored tied at 1-1, the junior catcher drilled a full-count offering from Norman to the left field wall. The outfielder had a bead on the ball, but was unable to make the catch. The hit drove in Will Doughty, who had walked, and Daigle, who had singled. Ashby then scored himself when the throw from the outfield got away from the shortstop.
“That was a huge at-bat right there,” said Doughty. “We had left some runners stranded before that, had some miscues and didn’t get a bunt down when we needed to; so to pick up those runs right there was big. I thought Alex really came through with that hit.”
From there, Broussard made just one mistake in the final three innings.
That miscue occurred in the bottom of the fifth inning when leadoff man Gabe Duffy drove a 3-2 fastball over the left center field wall for a solo home run.
Broussard then sat the Bears down in order in the final two innings to preserve the victory. He threw 104 pitches on the day, 76 for strikes.
Will Doughty followed Ashby at the plate with two hits, including a double. The freshman third baseman was also solid in the field with three putouts.
“We are expecting a lot from Will considering the fact that he is a freshman and we’re having to play him at third base on the hot corner. But I thought he did a good job,” said the elder Doughty. “He’s working really hard on his swing as well and I thought today that it showed.”
Jon Riley Mouton also had a double for the Gents.
Duffy paced Carencro at the plate with the home run while Westbrook, Norman and Nik Faul each had singles.
The victory is the second for the Gents against a Class 5A opponent. They defeated Acadiana, 2-1, last Friday in the Lafayette Tournament before dropping a 9-4 decision to Airline, another Class 5A opponent.
“We feel pretty good about the pitching performances we got in those two wins and we couldn’t have asked for much more than what we got out of those two ballgames,” said Doughty. “I feel like we’ve played pretty solid defense, but we have to continue to work on our base running because that is a weakness for us.
“If we can straighten that out, we have a chance to be a very competitive ball club this year.”