Acadiana Colts advance in PONY bracket

For six innings Thursday, the Acadiana Cajuns struggled to get anything going offensively in their 2014 Colt Zone Tournament opener against Austin-based Oak Hill Power.

The Cajuns stranded six runners, four in scoring position, through those first six innings and found themselves in a 1-1 deadlock entering the final frame.

But with two outs and a runner at second base in the bottom of the seventh, Jon Riley Mouton delivered the biggest hit of the game.

Mouton drilled a fastball from reliever Cohen Koapil down the right field line, driving in Alex Ashby, who had walked, to give the Cajuns a dramatic 2-1 victory.

"Jon Riley was able to get a fastball early in the count and he turned on it," said Cajuns' coach Dwayne Thibodeaux of Mouton, a Crowley High product, who had two of the team's five hits on the afternoon.

"Both of his hits were off of fastballs and he was able to get his hands through the zone and drive the baseball."

As big as that hit was, it perhaps wasn’t the biggest play of the game.

That occurred in the second inning after Oak Hill had already pushed across a run thanks to a walk and an error. The Power had runners at second and third with one out when William Gaulik drilled an offering from Derek Boutin to deep right field. Outfielder Hunter Meche raced towards the wall and made a leaping grab on the run to record the second out of the frame.

On the play, the runner at second base left the bag early and the Cajuns were able to get the ball in back to the infield time for an unconventional double play to get out of the frame with any further damage.

"Hunter's play in the second inning was huge for us because it saved probably two runs," said Thibodeaux. "It was really an amazing catch and that really changed the game right there. We don't make that play and it opens up the inning."

The Cajuns trailed 1-0 until the sixth inning when Mouton singled to lead off the frame. Austin Duplechin followed with a sacrifice bunt before Mouton moved to third base on a groundout by Pate Broussard. After a walk to Devin Boutin, Zack Breaux knotted the game at 1-1 with an infield single up the middle.

Derek Boutin got the complete-game victory on the mound after limiting the Power to just five hits. The crafty southpaw walked three and struck out eight.

Boutin gave up back-to-back hits in the fifth inning, but he avoided a potential big inning by getting Mario Rivera to ground into an inning ending double play.

Boutin then gave up back-to-back hits to start the sixth inning before getting Evan Tubbs to fly out to second base. He followed that up with back-to-back strikeouts to avoid any damage.

"Derek threw really well tonight," said Thibodeaux. "He got in a few jams, but he spotted his fastball well and was able to work out of them. He was able to work ahead in counts and he just didn't seem to get rattled."

Mouton paced the Cajuns' offense with two hits and one RBI while Duplechin, Breaux and Ashby each had one hit.

Acadiana takes care of Johnson County

GODLEY, TEXAS - The Acadiana Cajuns cruised into today's winner's bracket finals of the 2014 Colt League Zone Tournament Friday with a  dominating 13-0 victory over Johnson County.

The Cajuns are slated to take on either Laredo or Brownsville this morning at 9 a.m. A victory would send them to Monday's championship game at 9 a.m. while a loss would send them into an elimination game later today.

The winner of the tournament advances to the Colt League World Series next week.

In Friday's game, Rayne southpaw Hunter Meche and two others combined on a 2-hit shutout of the hosts to give the Cajuns their second victory in as many games.

Meche logged the victory after limiting the Jays to just one hit while striking out five in three innings of work. Former Lafayette High produce Hayden Erbe pitched the fourth and struck out three while Crowley High's Pate Broussard gave up one hit and struck out one in the fifth.

The Cajuns set the tone of the game early with a six-run first inning that saw a two-run double from Opelousas Catholic's Matt Collins and a two-run single by Broussard. 

Crowley High's Alex Ashby added a two-run double in the third inning and Jon Riley Mouton had RBI singles to push the lead to 9-0. 

Ashby delivered again in the fourth when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and cleared the bags with a three-run double. Notre Dame's Taylor Faulk also had a run-scoring single in the frame.