MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / May 15, 1999

Lutcher’s baseball opponents are being forewarned – watch out for the Red Dog.

The Bulldogs have been carrying around a cutout of a Red Dog since a road trip to Riverside April 17. Since that day, Lutcher has won nine straight,including road games at Riverside, Plaque-mine and Vandebilt. The streakalso includes four wins in the Class 3A playoffs.

“We yell Red Dog during every break,” senior Wesley Louque said. “It getsus excited and fired up. It’s been kind of our good luck charm.”But the Red Dog is not the only reason the Bulldogs have advanced to their first state championship game since 1993. Determination, teamwork, hardwork and a will to win have been the main ingredients.

“It’s been a team effort,” Louque said. “We’re a family. Every game,somebody picks it up and the pitching has been great. It’s been a totalteam effort.”Lutcher (22-9) will play at E.D. White (28-3) today at 3 p.m. in the Class3A championship game. When the Bulldogs took the practice field inJanuary, playing in the championship game may have been in the back of their minds but not in the minds of many others.

After all, Matt Dornier had resigned as head coach last summer after leading the team to seven straight playoff appearances. The Bulldogs thenproceeded to go 1-13 in American Legion play.

“Determination from the team,” first year Lutcher head coach Scott Tribble said of the keys to this season. “Hard work from the team and thecoaches. A will to improve. “We are improved because of the summer we had. We knew we had toimprove. The kids knew. Every single day, that is what we are doing,working to improve. They (the players) deserve the credit. They are feelingthe awards, seeing the effects of their work.”Tribble said his team is one that does not depend on one player to lead the team, that anybody on the squad can step up at anytime. An example ofthat happened during the Bulldogs’ regional playoff game against Pearl River.

With Lutcher holding onto a 6-4 lead in the fourth inning, Pearl River loaded the bases with none out. Tribble went to his bullpen and called onMatt Roussel, a sophomore who had pitched only 15 innings all year.

Roussel came in and struck out the side as the Bulldogs went on to a 12-4 win.

“The kids who have been performing all season long, when they go through their struggling points, somebody else has been stepping up,” Tribble said.

“It’s how a team like us makes it to the state championship game. We havea lot of competitors. It’s a family team effort. It’s what we are after andwe are starting to perform and play that way. Anybody can step up to theplate and we feel they can get the job done.”The Bulldogs have also been helped by their pitching as of late. Bo Louqueheld Benton to five hits in the semifinals Tuesday and Damian Ursin and Rusty Crosslin have picked up victories in the postseason. But Louque saidthe pitchers have also gotten a lot of help from their teammates.

“I remember I’m not the only one out there,” Louque said. “I have eightother guys out there. I do my part and I know I have other guys to back meup.”Wesley Louque and Crosslin agreed that Tribble and assistant coach Kim Lacombe have made the team a better one.

“We have the talent, we just have to put it together,” Crosslin said. “Thecoaches did a good job in putting us in this position.””Everybody is giving everything they got,” Bo Louque added. “That is whatchampionship teams are about – people stepping up and doing the job.”

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher