There was no late-inning miracle comeback for the Baton Rouge Rougarou Tuesday night. They didn't need one.
The Rougarou scored early then scored often on the way to a 13-0 rout of the Seguin River Monsters Tuesday night at Pete Goldsby Field. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Rougarou by the largest margin of the season with a season-high for runs and hits. The team finished with 11 hits off of four Seguin pitchers, including one triple. The team also was aided by nine walks and four hit batters.
Lane Hutchinson led the offense, going 3 for 4 with two RBIs and one run scored. Josh Shelly went 2 for 4 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored. He also walked twice. Zeb Ruddell went 2 for 5 with two RBIs, two runs scored and was hit by a pitch once. D.J. Walker, Rafael Gross and Blaise Priester also had RBIs.
The Rougarou pitchers were on Tuesday night as well. Starter Joshua Shimmin had a stellar outing, going five innings in which he gave up only three hits (two in the first inning) and struck out four. Relievers Sean Hammett, Bret Deegan and Kameron Hardebeck preserved the shutout, allowing no hits and striking out four. Together they gave up four walks on the night, three of which came in the top of the eighth inning.
The Rougarou struck first in the bottom of the first inning, scoring two runs thanks to three walks, a sunset-aided single by Hutchinson, and a pair of wild pitches.
Baton Rouge added three more runs in the second inning on a lead off bunt single by Chris Viamonte (who stole second) and a walk to Reagan James. After Ruddell was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Shelly drew a walk to score Viamonte to give the Rougarou a 3-0 lead. After a pitching change, James scored on a wild pitch. Hutchinson was hit by a pitch. Ruddell scored on a ground-out by Walker to make it 5-0.
The Rougarou would make it 8-0 in the third with two hit batters, a walk and singles by Ruddell and Hutchinson.
Baton Rouge really put the game away in the fifth, scoring five runs on singles by James, Ruddell, Priester, Hutchinson and Walker, and Shelly's triple.
"Tonight was a good win for our team," Rougarou coach James Dillard said. "We pitched well and hit well. It was just a matter of time before the bats came alive and we were able to score early and that allowed Josh to settle in and command the strike zone. Once again, we took advantage of what our opponent gave us and we came up with a few big hits. I'm proud of the way we came off the off day on Monday and responded in a big way. I'm once again proud of the way we competed."
The Rougarou will host the River Monsters again Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Goldsby Field.
By Lori Lyons, Rougarou Writer