By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Townsend Homes coach Paul Waguespack had to reshuffle his lineup and rotation for Wednesday’s game against East Jefferson-based Bell Office Machines. In doing so, he may have found something.

Dustin Zimmer homered in his first start of the summer, and Austin Ourso pitched a complete game and earned a win in his first mound action as St. Charles-based Townsend Homes rolled to an 8-4 victory.

Ourso (1-0) had a shutout going into the seventh inning, where Bell Office Machines scored all four of its runs. But it couldn’t erase its eight-run deficit.

Waguespack made some changes after Townsend’s game with Rummel-based Post 175 was rained out and rescheduled for Thursday. He elected to save ace Jared Keating for that game, and Ourso got the call.

“I can’t say enough about the job Austin did,” said Waguespack. “He went the distance. That’s big for us right now.”

Meanwhile, with third-hitter Brady Hitt dealing with a minor injury, Zimmer was called upon to start and hit second in the order.

“We might have found something there,” said Waguespack. “Zimmer did a nice job. Two hits, a big home run. You put a guy in the two hole, you don’t go in with the expectations, and he delivers.”

Townsend Homes (2-2) got on the board in the second inning after a single by Jared Keating led off the inning. Shane McNeil was hit by a pitch, and Keating would score on a passed ball with one out for the first run of the day. Donnie Savoie laid down a sacrifice bunt to plate the second, making it 2-0.

Townsend Homes made a bigger push in the third inning, loading the bases with no outs after a Bell Office error and back-to-back singles by Ourso and Zimmer. Macky Cortez was hit by a pitch to force in a run, and Keating hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home another run, making it 4-0. McNeil then was hit by a pitch, then a passed ball made it 5-0. Jeffrey Hall grounded out and plated the game’s sixth run.

Finally, in the fourth, the lead grew to 8-0 when Zimmer mashed a home run to left, scoring he and Ourso.

“It felt good,” said Zimmer. “Coach started me, so I felt like I had to come through. I’m glad it helped us to a win.”

In the fifth, Savoie made an impressive leaping one-handed grab on a hot shot hit to shortstop.

Both teams remained scoreless until the seventh, where after Ourso allowed a two-RBI triple to make it 8-4, he induced a fly out to finish the game.