Neville baseball benefits from changing stripes
The trick for Neville baseball in 2015 was always going to be following up last year’s surprise Sulphur run.
The Tigers were District 2-4A champions in 2014 and made it all the way to the Class 4A state championship game in Paul Guerriero’s first season on the job.
Neville’s showing in 2015 was respectable with 20 wins, a district runner-up finish and the seven seed in the Class 4A playoffs. It just required some constant adjusting along the way.
Most of the run-support from 2014 walked across the stage last spring at graduation, sending the Tigers scrambling to manufacture some offense to compliment a deep pitching staff.
“Pitching-wise I thought we rolled right into it but offensively we missed that middle chunk in the lineup,” Guerriero said. “Not only do we have guys that are new but they’re at different spots in the order and we’re expecting different things out of them.”
Transition at the plate resulted in some losses that Neville would like to have back. The Tigers outhit West Ouachita in a crucial road-district game but lost 3-0. Sophomore Will Ryan pitched a two-hitter in a 1-0 loss to Ruston.
Looking for a spark, Neville scrapped its entire approach at the plate. Guerriero felt the team was giving away too many outs with bunts, so they’ve gone to a hit-and-run approach that allows them to still rely on speed, but not sacrifice at-bats.
Junior Quintin Guice leads the Tigers with a .389 batting average, and after moving around the order, junior Dixon Houston has settled back into the two-hole batting .375.
In an unexpected development around the Guerriero house, Cullen Guerriero —Paul’s son— has stepped right into the lineup as a sophomore and is hitting .380 in 50 at-bats. He’s been hard for Neville to keep on the bench since getting an opportunity earlier this year in the Sulphur tournament.
“I told my assistant coaches that two things I want them to do is make sure I’m not hurting Cullen by giving him an opportunity and that I’m not giving him the opportunity when someone else is deserving but he’s earned everything he’s gotten,” Paul Guerriero said.
No. 26 Northwood from Shreveport comes to Embanato Field in the opening-round of the playoffs, set for Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Pitcher Timmy Yelverton, a lefty, and catcher Deauton Delgado — a Louisiana College signee — are the one-two punch behind Northwood’s 10-11 record.
Junior Cole Tracey (6-1, 3.08 ERA) — Neville’s co-ace along with Campbell (5-3, 1.83) — will get the start against Northwood. The move keeps Campbell, coming off a one-out performance against OCS, fresh for a possible Saturday start.
Northwood has only lost four games by five runs or more.
“Every coach I’ve talked to says you can’t let those two guys [Yelverton and Delgado] beat you but we’re not going to change our philosophy with pitching and defense because it’s what we do well,” Guerriero said.
“The good thing is we haven’t played our best baseball yet.”
Ouachita back in the playoffs
The Ouachita Lions have met every goal head coach Josh Morrison has ever put in front of them in the last three seasons.
This year it was win 20 games and get back in the postseason. The playoffs are here, and for the first time since 2010, so are the Lions (21-13).
No. 17 Ouachita travels to No. 16 St. Paul’s (Covington) in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs after narrowly missing out on a home game.
“It looked like as of noon yesterday we were going to get that but it flip flopped when the brackets came out,” Morrison said. “I’m super proud of them and they definitely have a good taste in their mouths right now.”
Ouachita fought out of a late-season district slump and played themselves into this position by sweeping Alexandria. Morrison called the ASH series the best three-game stretch he’s seen from the team in his tenure behind big efforts from junior Caleb Armstrong and senior Mitchell Campbell.
The Lions finished second in District 2-5A, behind no. 9 West Monroe.
St. Paul’s starter Carlo Graffeo, a right-hander, signed with Southeastern Louisiana. Senior ace Cody Taylor will get the start for Ouachita.
“There’s no one we’d rather have on the mound,” Morrison said. “It’s time for something good to happen to these guys because they’ve worked too hard and now it’s time to go over there and get that done.”
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