Patriots rally past Pios

CROWLEY – The Notre Dame Pios were on the verge of possibly their biggest victory of the season Monday afternoon at Miller Stadium.
The Pios (12-16, 2-3) had taken a three-run lead into the seventh inning, only to have the state-ranked North Vermilion Patriots rally for four runs in the final frame to slip away with a heartbreaking 7-6 victory.
The Patriots (22-2, 5-0 and ranked No 3. in 3A) took advantage of a pair of walks to start the inning and followed up with three hits to take the lead.
In all, the Pios issued eight free passes (five walks, three hit batsmen) and four of those runners crossed the plate.
“There’s really no defense for walks,” said Notre Dame coach Steve Soper. “There’s nothing you can do to defend it. After such a good offensive and defensive performance, for us to really falter on such an important piece was disappointing.
“That just goes to show you how important the pitching game is: If we are lacking there, there is not a thing we can do in the field or at the plate to really get it back up.”
Royce Zaunbrecher got the start on the mound for the Pios and battled through control issues through six innings. But he left the game with his team holding a 6-3 advantage.
Zaunbrecher, who got a no-decision, allowed three runs on five hits and six walks before being lifted for Wyatt Sullivan to start the seventh inning.
Sullivan struggled to find the strike zone and walked two while surrendering one hit to load the bases. He gave way to Sam Hoffpauir with no outs. Hoffpauir gave up a two-run double to Patriot pitcher Donald Comeaux and an RBI single to Ryan Thompson.
The Patriots scored the eventual winning run on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Ryan Meaux before the Pios ended the inning on a strikeout and a throw out on a steal attempt.
“Royce was around 115 pitchers (after the sixth inning) so as much as I would have liked to run him out there to finish, I had to take him out,” said Soper of Zaunbrecher. “And he threw well tonight: he had a couple of walks early, but he battled his tail off and that’s all we can ask of him.”
On the positive side, the Pios pounded out eight hits off Comeaux, the ace of the Patriots’ staff, despite going down on strikes five times in the first two innings.
Trailing 1-0, the Pios tagged Comeaux for five straight hits in the third frame and took a 3-1 advantage.
North Vermilion rallied in the top of the fifth and scored two runs on a triple by Comeaux that tied the game at 3-3.
But the Pios had an answer.
Jacob Mooney came through with a base-clearing double in the bottom of the frame to give the Pios a 6-3 advantage heading into the final inning.
“The first two innings he (Comeaux) rolled through us pretty well, but we did a good job of making adjustments and really getting it done at the plate,” said Soper. “We really had a chance to open it up and a couple more hits here or there would have made it a lot tougher on them. We’ve just got to do a better job of getting out to a lead and then expanding it.”
Comeaux finished the game on the mound just like he started it, striking out the side in the sixth and logging two more strikeouts in the seventh.
In all, Comeaux gave up six runs on eight hits and one walk while fanning 11 Pios.
“Their pitcher has been one of the best that we have seen and that was what was exciting to see with us doing such a good job offensively,” said Soper. “But it doesn’t really matter how many runs we get if we give up more than we score.
“But there’s stuff we can build on. Offensively at the plate, and defensively, we were pretty solid in the field. It’s not stuff that we can’t fix, we just have to really fill up the zone and let them get themselves out.”
The Pios got eight hits from eight different players on the night.
Mooney and Jeff Daigle each had a double while Jacques Thibodeaux, Gavin Bourgeois, Sam Veillon, Kyle Habetz, Alex Rozas and Brad Stoma each had a single.
Comeaux and Thompson paced the Patriots with two hits each while Chance Carrier, Dylan Duhon, Trey Broussard and Seth Patin each had one.