MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / March 4, 2000

LUTCHER – Four Bulldog pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout as Lutcher defeated Thibodaux, 4-0, in its home opener Tuesday afternoon.

Risley St. Germain (1-0), making his first start of the season, picked up thewin for the Bulldogs (4-1), giving up five walks while striking out four in three innings of work. Matt Roussel came in in the fourth and gave up two hits andtwo walks while striking out one in two innings.

Bo Louque pitched the sixth inning, getting out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam after walking two, giving up a hit and striking out two. Damian Ursinclosed out the game, walking one while striking out two in the seventh.

“We had a little depth,” Lutcher coach Scott Tribble said. “Being able tothrow four pitchers and getting a shutout, that’s something positive.”The Bulldogs got outstanding pitching again Thursday as Ursin no-hit Hammond in a 7-0 victory in the Lutcher Tournament.

Lutcher got on the board in the bottom of the first Tuesday as Ursin led off with a walk off Thibodaux starter Mark Barrileaux and stole second. DustinDeslatte then advanced him to third with a bunt down the first baseline and Tray Haydel brought him in by roping a single to center.

Lutcher added three more in the bottom of the third to take a 4-0 lead. Withone out, Haydel doubled into the left-center field gap and took third on a wild pitch.

After Rusty Crosslin walked, St, Germain took a 1-0 pitch from Barrileaux and lined it over the left-center field wall for a three-run home run. It wasthe second time in a week that St. Germain had given the Bulldogs a lead witha home run, having done it against Central in the St. Amant Tournament thisweekend.

Andy Kliebert came in an out later to relieve Barrileaux and allowed just three runners the rest of the way, including a two-out double by Craig Brignac in the bottom of the sixth.

“The bats still have a long way to go,” Tribble said. “We’re living on the bighit. We’re not getting the number hits but we’re getting the timely hits.”Thibodaux threatened every inning but could not push a run across. In thefirst inning, St. Germain picked Jacob Naquin off first base with two outs andKainen LeBlanc on third. St. Germain got Naquin to pop up to first and struckout Robbie Hebert with one out and Cody Cortez on second in the third inning.

In the fourth inning, Barrileaux reached first on a force out with one out but courtesy runner Garret Knight was caught stealing by Ursin. The Tigers hadbeen 25-for-25 on steal attempts going into the game.

Steven Ford and Cortez drew walks from Roussel to open the fifth and were sacrificed along by LeBlanc. But Roussel prevented further trouble by gettingNaquin to fly out to short center and striking out pinch hitter Aaron LaRose.

Seth Hebert, who was 2-for-2 in the game, led off the sixth with a double down the third baseline against Louque. Knight and Josh Clement followedwith walks to load the bases with none out. Louque got Matt Price looking andFord to pop up to Ursin in foul territory before striking out Cortez to end the inning.

Lutcher is hosting the Toot Ganier Memorial Tournament this weekend. TheBulldogs play East Ascension today at 2 p.m.

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