Cane Cutters News

 

The Acadiana Cane Cutters took on the East Texas Pumpjacks Wednesday, July 25th at Fabacher Field, and as both teams struggled to put runs on the board, it seemed to become almost that of a staring contest, and fortunately for the Cane Cutters, the Pumpjacks blinked first.

 

The first, second, and third innings seemed to fly by rather uneventfully as neither team were able to connect with the ball until the second inning.  Excitement started to pick up in the fourth inning when the Cane Cutters’ Will Mathis, Brett Thornell, and Andrew Brown were able to turn a 1-6-3 double play and get the 2nd and 3rd out for the inning. However, the rest of the game it seemed that every fly ball was caught and every play at first was on point--for 7 straight innings the score remained 0-0.

 

The eighth inning started with the Pumpjacks’ Kevin o’Leary hitting a two-out double. He was able to move over to third base with a wild pitch by Will Mathis. Their inning was cut short due to a strike-out by John Williams. The Cane Cutters started off their eighth inning line-up with Braxton Lee who singled and then was moved over by sacrifice bunt thanks to Mike Barbra, with Barba reaching first base due to error by the Pumpjacks pitcher.  Another sacrifice bunt by Brett Thornell moved both runners to their consecutive bases. Mitch Nau reached first with a base on balls for Cane Cutters in scoring position with loaded bases.  Then Gabe Woods, unfortunately, grounded out to end the inning.

 

Batting in the 9th inning, the Cane Cutters’ Austin Roussel reached on a walk. He was then able to move on an error by the pitch. Alan Snowden hit a single to center field and Rousell rounded third and headed home. Unfortunately, he was thrown out by center fielder to home. Snowden, caught in a run-down, was then thrown out at second, causing the game to go into extra innings.

 

The tenth inning started by a single with Braxton Lee and was followed by a series of one-out walks leading to loaded bases for the Cane Cutters, once again in scoring position. With two consecutive strikeouts, the inning again came to a close with the score tied at 0-0.

 

Deciding to switch things up, the Cane Cutters brought in new pitcher Ben Suit. The Pumpjacks were able to load the bases but their attempts to score were brought to a halt when Taylor Murphy hit a two-out infield fly to end the inning.

 

At the bottom of the 11th. Roussel was hit by the pitch and was able to get on base. He was then able to move to second with a sacrifice bunt by Alex Marse and was then able to get to third with a ground out to first  by Almann Snowden.  With two outs and no one else on base, Roussel was able to make the winning run when Pumpjacks’ pitcher Gerardo Esquivel threw a wild pitch to score Rousell and end the game with Cane Cutters scoring 1, and Pumpjacks 0.

 

The Cane Cutters take on the Alexandria Aces in a Louisiana duel on Friday at Warren Morris Night at Fabacher Field.  Warren Morris hit the game winning home run for LSU in the 1996 College World Series, and he also played on the USA Olympic baseball team that year.  So on opening ceremony night at the Olympics, Warren Morris will be throwing out the first pitch for the Cane Cutters, and on hand to sign some autographs.  We’ll wrap up the evening with fireworks from C&G Boats, and if you wear purple and gold to the game, you will get $1 off your ticket.