Wombats put up impressive numbers in run to state title

It was another special summer for the Gauthier & Amedee Wombats as they clinched their second state championship in three years and third since 2013.

The Wombats went 5-0 in last weekend's state tournament, and they won those five games by a combined score of 41-8.

Gauthier & Amedee was a dominant team for the majority of the season.

The Wombats opened the summer with three straight games against archrival Southland. After a 7-5 loss in the opener, they won a 7-6 affair and tied the third game, 4-4.

After that 1-1-1 start, Gauthier & Amedee went on a tear, winning 17 straight games. Twelve of those victories came by four or more runs.

The Wombats finished the season with an overall record of 24-2-1.

This year's team wasn't as big as previous years. It was composed of just 15 players.

Three of those players were college freshmen. They were Delgado Community College's Brayden Caskey (Dutchtown), Nunez Community College's Grant Griffin (East Ascension) and Baton Rouge Community College's Blaise Foote (East Ascension).

Participants from Dutchtown High included Brock Barthelemy, Landon Manson and Will Dotter. Players from East Ascension were Kael Babin and Tyler Theriot. Players from St. Amant were Trey and Teddy Webb, Blake Rambin, Reese Lipoma, Slade Zeppuhar, Connor Adams and Will Delaune.

The Wombats swung the bats well all season. They averaged eight runs per game, and they collectively hit .342.

The player with the highest batting average was Lipoma, who hit a blistering .405.

Next in line was Teddy Webb. Being primarily a pitcher, Webb only had 35 at-bats, but he still hit .400

Other top hitters for Gauthier & Amedee were Foote with a .393 average, Zeppuhar at .373 and Manson at .356.

Like Teddy Webb, Connor Adams didn't get many plate appearances due to his need at pitcher. However, in 24 at-bats, he hit .375.

Foote and Caskey led the team in home runs. Each player hit four.

When it comes to RBIs, Manson and Caskey were the leaders as each hitter piled up 25. Griffin was next in line with 22. Foote had 21, and Delaune was right behind with 20.

Caskey and Lipoma led the team in runs scored as they each collected 31. Foote and Zeppuhar each scored 24. Trey Webb scored 20, and Delaune was close behind with 18.

Even more impressive than the Wombat offense was their pitching. They gave up just 2.65 earned runs per game.

Teddy Webb threw the most innings at 32, followed by Barthelemy at 31 and Foote at 25.

Foote had the best ERA on the team at a superb 1.40. Dotter was impressive as well with an ERA of 1.61 in 17.1 innings pitched.

Zeppuhar had a 1.95 ERA in 14.1 innings, and Teddy Webb's ERA was 1.96.

The team leader in strikeouts was Barthelemy and it wasn't that close. His total for the season was at 44. The next closest Wombat pitcher was Teddy Webb with 37.

Foote had 28 strikeouts for the season, and Theriot collected 22.

Dotter had the best control as he walked just two batters in 17.1 innings. Zeppuhar walked three in 14.1 innings pitched, and Teddy Webb walked just eight in 32.

Lipoma and Delaune each had a perfect 1.00 fielding percentage. Other standouts from the field were Manson at .994, Teddy Webb at .974 and Griffin at .966.

Manson had 155 total chances and committed just one error all summer.

As a team, the Wombat committed just 31 errors in 586 chances. That's a fielding percentage of .947.