North Vemilion tops Pios for second straight day

CROWLEY – Different day, same results.
For the second straight day, the Notre Dame Pioneers had a chance to make an early statement against the North Vermilion Patriots.
And for the second straight day, the Pios failed to capitalize on a number of opportunities.
The end result - a 14-4 loss to the Patriots in a game that was halted after the sixth inning due to the mercy rule.
“The last two days, we have failed to compete at all,” said ND coach Steve Soper, whose squad fell to the Patriots 10-0 on Sunday in another game that was halted after the sixth inning. “We’re not doing a very good job of adjusting at the plate and we’re getting rattled in the field. We’re not able to overcome anything and we’re making our pitchers work too much.
“We’re definitely not on the same page as a unit right now, which is frustrating to see this late in the season. But it’s just something that we have to overcome.”
The Pios took a 2-0 lead after three innings and had their chances to put more distance between themselves and the visitors. They scored one run in the first inning before leaving the bases loaded on a strikeout. In the third inning, the Pios pushed another run, but then ran into an out on a botched squeeze bunt attempt and ended up leaving two runners stranded.
“We just really failed to produce any output at the plate the last two days,” said Soper of his team, one that had just four hits in each game. “That is very disappointing to see, but it’s one of those things where it’s never as good as you think it is and it’s never as bad as what you think it is. We’ve just got to find a way to get it done, that’s basically what it boils down to.”
The Patriots had little trouble producing offense, despite having just two hits in the first three innings.
The visitors banged out three hits and plated three runs in the fourth inning to take a 3-2 lead.
From there, they added six runs in the fifth and five in the sixth.
“That’s one of the things that has plagued us all year; we’ve just always had that one inning that we just let things snowball on us,” said Soper. “We’ve got to learn how to stop the bleeding, find a way to get out of innings. We failed to do that the last two days.”
The Pios added a pair of runs in the sixth inning on a two-run home run by Jacob Vicknair. His blast to left field cut the lead to 14-4 before North Vermilion hurler Ryan Meaux recorded a strikeout to end the game.
Meaux surrendered four runs on four hits and six walks while striking out five in earning the complete-game victory.
Connor Dupuy paced the Patriots offensively with four hits, all singles, and one RBI.
Dillan Gilbert had two hits for the Pios while Vicknair and Pete Brown each had one.