Gents top Riverdale in playoff opener

CROWLEY – A 10-hit outburst and a little help from the visitors enabled the Crowley Gents to slip into the second round of the Class 4A playoffs with an 8-4 victory over No. 24 Riverdale Monday evening at Miller Stadium.
The Gents will now travel to Monroe to take on West Ouachita in a best-of-three series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m.
“I think we did a solid job tonight,” said CHS coach Christian Doughty, whose No. 9-seeded Gents improved to 24-3 on the season. “To get 10 hits in a playoff game, I’m pretty pleased with that. If we can get 10 hits every playoff game, I think we’ve got a shot.”
The Gents had three hits in the first two innings, and were able to take advantage of four walks to stake an early 4-0 lead.
Alex Ashby led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple to deep center field. He scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly by Jon Riley Mouton.
Zack Breaux got the Gents going in the second inning with a one-out double and Austin Duhon followed with an infield single.
From there, Riverdale hurler Christian Smith ran into control issues. He hit Will Doughty to load the bases and then Ashby took a pitch in the ribs to plate the first run of the inning. Mouton then logged his second RBI of the game when he drew a walk and Pate Broussard brought home another run on a fielder’s choice.
Riverdale wasn’t as fortunate on the offensive side as Broussard, the Gents’ starting pitcher, was carving up the Rebel’s lineup.
Broussard logged five strikeouts in the first two frames before giving up Riverdale’s first hit of the game in the third inning, a single by Alex Dicharez.
The Rebels finally got on the board in the fourth inning when Glenn Purshell reached base on an error and scored on a single by Richard Repath.
The Gents answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame. Mouton tripled down the right field line to plate Ashby, who had walked, and Haden Erbe had a run-scoring single later in the frame to push the lead to 6-1.
Broussard gave way to Ben Broussard in the sixth inning and the Rebels were able to rally for three runs off the senior hurler
Repath had a two-run triple in the frame before scoring himself on an errant throw to cut the lead to 6-3.
The Gents added a big insurance run in the bottom of the sixth courtesy of pinch-hitter Blayne Sonnier. Hitting for Erbe, who was in the bullpen warming up for the final inning, Sonnier singled up the middle to plate Mouton, who had doubled to start the inning.
“I was very proud of Blayne,” said Doughty. “He has been very patient. He’s battled through some injuries and hasn’t gotten a lot of (playing) time, but he can swing the bat. He’s a hard worker and he answered the call. That was a huge hit for us to put us back up by four runs.”
Erbe took the mound in the final inning and struck out the side in order to end the game.
In all, the Gents used three pitchers on the night, which was by design according to Doughty.
“From the get-go, our plan was to get work for all three guys,” said Doughty of his pitching staff.  “Given the situation of having to play the best-of-three in the second round and the fact that we hadn’t played in six days, they all needed work. Pate was cruising, but we knew we had to get the other guys some work.”
Pate Broussard was credited with the victory after surrendering one run on three hits. He struck out six in five innings.
“Pate was really motoring along and I thought he pitched a great ballgame,” said Doughty. “We had him on the gun and he was anywhere from 81-85. And after five innings, his pitch count was low, but we knew we needed to get those other guys up there and get them some work.”
Ben Broussard threw one inning and gave up three runs, two earned, on three hits and two walks. He struck out two.
Erbe faced three batters in the final frame and needed just 13 pitches to strike out the side.
Offensively, the Gents had three players with two hits. Mouton led the charge with a double, a triple and three RBI. Breaux added a double and a single and Duhon had two singles. Ashby followed with a triple and an RBI, Sonnier and Bubba Daigle each had a run scoring single and Erbe had a single.
“When we can be productive throughout the line up, I think we can be very competitive,” said Doughty.
The next step for the Gents is a big one.
West Ouachita, the No. 8 seed, eliminated the Gents last year in the second round. They defeated No. 25 South Terrebonne in their playoff opener Tuesday.
Needless to say, the Gents are going to Monroe with a chip on their shoulder.
“We want to go up there and show those people that we aren’t the Crowley team of last year,” said Doughty. “They blew us out (13-5) so we want to go up there and show them that we can be competitive.”