NEW ORLEANS — For the first time in four seasons, Otto Candies was stopped short of reaching the American Legion state baseball tournament.
The Hahnville High School-based team was eliminated at last week’s Southeast Regional double elimination tournament after losses to Rummel-based Deanie’s Seafood and Mandeville-based LLOG Exploration. Otto Candies defeated Hannan-based Post 16 last week in the tournament’s opening round.
“We didn’t play as well as we expected,” said Otto Candies coach David Baudry, who had led his team through the Southeast Regional and to state in all three of his seasons as head coach. “We made too many mistakes and it’s just disappointing. We gained a lot from the summer and, individually, some players really had a chance to shine. As a group, we just fell short.”
The decisive game against LLOG proved to be a slugfest, the Mandeville squad winning a 13-12 game to stay alive.
Taft Louis’ bases loaded RBI single in the bottom of the ninth gave LLOG a walkoff victory.
It spoiled an Otto Candies (10-9-2) rally that tied the game at 12 in the top half of the final inning.
Hunter LeBlanc went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI to lead Otto Candies at the plate. Dane Wise collected two hits and scored twice, while Peyton Dufrene drove in two runs and scored two more.
Braxton Dufrene (0-1) took the loss for Otto Candies.
It was the second loss of the tournament for Otto Candies after a pivotal loss to Deanie’s Friday by a score of 5-2.
That game began Thursday but was suspended due to rain in the second inning, with the scored tied 0-0. It was delayed again Friday for nearly 45 minutes, but the teams were able to retake the field and finish the game.
Deanie’s Lyall Ball pitched most of the way Friday, in liu of Zach Cook, who pitched 1.2 scoreless innings Thursday as starter. Ball tossed seven innings of one-hit, one-run ball. Kevin Meehan went 4-5 at the plate to lead Deanie’s batters.
Otto Candies led 1-0 in the fourth before Deanie’s scored four unanswered runs to take control.
Pitcher Trent Bergeron (2-3) took the loss in that game.
Deanie’s held Otto Candies to just four hits, collected by Waylon LeBlanc, Kevin Comardelle, Cade Miguez and Hunter LeBlanc, respectively.
“I thought the delays really hurt him,” Baudry said of Bergeron, the lone 2015 senior player that returned to play for the summer team. “You had the 24 hour delay, then 45 minutes the next day for lightning. He wasn’t the same after that.”
In the team’s 9-1 victory over Post 16, David Vial (2-1) tossed a complete game five-hitter. He struck out six and walked one while allowing no earned runs.
“He’s one young guy that really had a fine summer,” Baudry said.
“He’s had quite a few nice performances and this was one.”
Otto Candies seized control in the bottom of the third inning when it scored five runs without logging a hit. Post 16 made two errors and Comardelle and Miguez ignited the surge by drawing a pair of walks. Hunter LeBlanc’s eighth inning double scored two runs to make it 8-0 in the eighth.
Waylon LeBlanc went 2 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Comardelle was 2 for 3 with two runs scored.
Baudry said that though a fourth straight trip to state did not materialize, the summer season should still be a big boon for the Tigers’ 2016 prep campaign. Baudry said he was excited about the pitching depth his team showcased, and that nearly the entire roster will return.
“We learned a lot about who we are,” Baudry said. “We’re excited about this group of players and where the program is going. Our kids got a lot of great experience.”
Waylon LeBlanc led Otto Candies offensively at the Southeast Regional, batting .364 through the three game run.
He will be a junior next season and should be one of the cornerstones of the team’s offensive lineup. Baudry said a major point of emphasis will be finding a way to generate more runs than the team did this summer — while the team’s pitching staff, he said, has mostly cemented itself, the team must do more damage on the scoreboard.
“We’ve got to get better offensively,” Baudry said. “I think we’ve got the capability to, for sure. It’s just a matter of putting it together.”
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