The Gerard Oubre Memorial Tournament: Byrd High Silences Jesuit’s Bats for a 3-0 Win at John Ryan Stadium

Richard Oubre pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on four hits (two runs were earned). He issued four walks, hit two batters, and had three strikeouts.

View the Jesuit – Byrd Photo Gallery

View the Jesuit – Lutcher Photo Gallery

The Yellowjackets flew in from Byrd High (Shreveport) having lost to the Blue Jays at John Ryan Stadium for the last two seasons. Not this season.

On Thursday, the Yellowjackets were floating like butterflies after putting the sting on the Jays, 3-0. It was the second shutout of the season for the Jays at the Ryan. Suddenly HFD: Home Field Disadvantage?

A double by second baseman Brandon Briuglio in the bottom of the first inning and a single by catcher Josh Schmidt in the second were the only two hits mustered by the Jays.

Catcher Josh Schmidt makes a last second leap for first base but was called out. In an earlier inning, Schmidt beat out an infield hit and was credited with one of the Jays’ two hits in the game.

In 17 of Jesuit’s 21 outs, the Jays either struck out or popped up.

Richard Oubre, a senior right hander who throws hard strikes, pitched a complete game, giving up only four hits. Of the three runs Byrd scored, two were earned. Oubre walked four batters and hit two. He had three strikeouts. Pitching was not the problem against Byrd. Oubre went the distance and did his job. He threw well enough that had the Jays bats come out of a deep slumber, the outcome might have been different.

Changes in latitude, changes in attitude. Get ready for some baseball psychology, courtesy of Coach Joey Latino. Those post-game meetings out in right field usually last about three to four minutes. After the Byrd game, Coach Latino and his assistants talked to the players for 15 minutes, an eternity.

After the meeting, Coach Latino sat calmly in the dugout, munching his typical post-game gummy treats while dissecting the loss:

“My concern is that this is now three games in a row, even though we beat Lutcher (3-2), where we’ve been, in a word, flat. I didn’t like our lack of fight, I didn’t think we were competitive. I’m taking nothing away from Byrd because they’re a solid ball club and their pitcher did a good job. But we’ve got to compete in situations better than what we’ve done in the last three games.  

“It’s hard to shut out a team in high school because, believe it or not, there are so many different ways you can score runs. There are walks, hits, errors, passed balls, and wild pitches, and Byrd did none of that. They had one error, but other than that they played a real solid game.

“From an offensive standpoint, 17 of the 21 outs that we made were either by strike out or pop up. And that’s not going to win any ball games. We need to address some things during batting practice and drill work. Just try to focus on hitting more line drives and ground balls. It comes with work. It comes with dedicating yourself at practice to the drill work and trying to iron out your flaws in the swing and get better.

“It’s not so much impatience at the plate. Our timing is off here and there; swinging at a pitch that might be out of the zone; not getting deep into counts; not getting into plus counts where you have the advantage over the pitcher. It’s all that stuff. And it’s correctable, but like I’ve said, we have to be better at practice first before we expect to transfer it out here.”

On Friday, March 18, the Oubre Tourney continues as Jesuit hosts Zachary at the Ryan with a starting time of 5 p.m. Inclement weather in the area has forced a reshuffling of this weekend’s games. Jesuit will play West Ouachita on Saturday, March 19 at John Ryan Stadium. First pitch is 9:30 a.m. Then on Sunday, March 20, the Jays hop a bus to Hahnville to play Central Lafourche at 1 p.m.