March 12, 2005

Tigers pillage Dutchtown

By Eric LeBlanc
Sports Editor
(Photo by ERIC LEBLANC)

After falling to the Dutchtown Griffins last week in the Dutchtown Tournament, the Hahnville Tigers regrouped and gave the home fans a 6-1 victory to cheer about.

Leading the way for the Tigers was starting pitcher Jordan Brown (3-0) who went six innings, giving up one unearned run on five hits and a walk while striking out four. Offensively, catcher Andrew Hickman, Brown, third baseman Garret Loup and right fielder Charlie Harrell each had an RBI while second baseman Steven Burns scored two runs.

The Tigers started off the bottom of the first with a rally. After center fielder Ryne Madere led off the game with a walk, he then stole second and third. Burns followed with another walk. Then two batters later, Hickman drove in Madere with an RBI double. Burns then scored when a pickoff throw to second wound up in center field. So at the end of the first inning, the Tigers led 2-0.

Brown allowed a leadoff double to start the game, but retired the next six batters. The leadoff hitter in the third reached on a single and then later scored on an error. But Brown avoided any further damage with a strikeout to end the inning.

The Tigers rallied again in the bottom of the third. Burns led off the inning with a single. After an out, Hickman reached on an error. Then Brown brought in Burns with an RBI single. Loup then followed with another RBI single to make the score 4-1. Loup then stole second and Brown’s courtesy runner Luke Savoie scored on an errant throw. Harrell then finished off the scoring by driving in Loup with a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 6-1.

The Griffins put two runners on base in the fourth, but thanks to a runner thrown out trying to steal by Hickman and a strikeout by Brown, the Griffins did not put any more runs on the board.

The Tigers threatened in the bottom of the inning after a Madere single and a Melancon walk, but a fielder’s choice ended the threat.

Brown blazed through the fifth and left two runners on base in the sixth to seal his third victory of the year. Brad Fonseca came on in the seventh and retired three out of the four batters he faced for the win.

With the victory, the Tigers improve to 10-1 on the season. Hahnville will next travel to Denham Springs for a tournament this weekend. The Tigers and the Destrehan Wildcats will face off Wednesday at Destrehan at 3:30 p.m.

Eric LeBlanc can be reached at EricL@heraldguide.com or at (985) 758-2795, ext. 219.