verdugo288

Yves Brancheau.

We’ve talked already about the great rookie class of 1992. But the next four guys we will be talking about are recruits from 1991. Three were rookies …and that rookie class from ‘91 was money, too….you better believe it! And Yves was one of ‘em. Great acquisition.

Yves saw significant time for us in ‘91 as a rookie and was our lead-off hitter and played great defense. Acquiring him really set us up with a quality second baseman for the next three years. But he could play anywhere in the infield for us. In 91 he saw some time at shortstop as well and in 92 he played some great games for us down at third base.

I never hesitated to play him at third base for us because he had a very, very good arm.

So coming into ‘92 he ready had a full season under his belt and we knew he was our starting second baseman. I expected him to have a great year in ‘92 and that’s exactly what he did for us.

He hit .300 on the year. Reached base 28 times for a .452 on-base percentage. Loved his wheels. Loved the hustle. Good range. Came in hard to get the high choppers. Knocked down the hard shots. Threw across his body well. Good footwork around the bag. Wasn’t afraid of getting dirty. Loved his glove. Loved his arm even more.

He started and played entire games at third base for us in wins against Sunland-Tujunga, Woodland Hills West, and Notre Dame ….and handled it masterfully down there. He even caught a few innings in a double-header up in Lancaster.

We knew going into the season he would have a week off for a family outing but apart from that he was always there.

Our Opening day win against Agoura/Oakpark was a tough game. We had never won on opening day. Yves singled, stole a base and scored on Robb Turners base hit in the fifth to give us a 2-0 lead.

In the 7th, Agoura’s first three hitters reached base …..and they had scored to make it 4-1….they had broken up Bull’s shutout he had going with nobody out and they had runners at the corners. Josh got a clutch strike out and I moved the middle infielders back to double-play depth and left the corners up in case they tried anything. A sharply-hit ground ball was hit to second base and there was no way we could get two on that play….

I remember Yves making a great play and diving just to keep it from going through for a base hit and then FIRING to the plate to barely nip the runner. Fucking HUGE play. Bull retired the next hitter on a weak ground ball to end the threat. HUGE PLAY by Yves that helped us pick up that elusive, first-ever opening-day victory for Verdugo.

He picked up two hits in the double-header split in Lancaster North. The Team that had all the ringers.
That win in the opener was an uphill climb for us and they hit us HARD in game-two and beat us. I thought Yves and the rest of our hitters did a great job that day against the thirty-year-old pitchers they threw at us.

The day we took over sole-possession of first place later in the season was a game against Notre Dame. First place on the line at Fat Jody’s yard. We were short handed that day. I put Cowsill in center and Yves down at third and we didn’t miss a beat. Huge win.

The next game was key. We had to maintain first place and the best record in the District. This was a huge game. Against Burbank. Burbank handed us our first loss of the year back in game six. And they were throwing the same guy at us who had beat us before. He gave us fits both games. But we got to him this time and knocked his ass out of the game in the fifth inning. We only had four hits that day but we really made things uncomfortable for him that day out on the mound.

Yves turned a 4-6-3 double play in the first inning of that win and handled three other ground balls for us that day. Including the final out. Clutch game. At the plate? He lays down a sacrifice bunt moving two guys over who scored on Hack’s triple. Granted….they would have scored on the triple but Yves did his job.

That day at the plate he sacrificed, drew two walks, took a dose and scored two runs. Played the entire game and went zero-for-zero at the plate! ….yet he was a huge factor….scoring twice! In the eighth inning we only had a three-run lead and we needed a run. He took the dose….moved to second when the Wiley Jackson drew a walk and then baited their pitcher into a balk!

He easily scored on Robb Turners base hit to make it 6-2.

The last four games of the regular season this guy went on a tear. Starting against Lancaster South. A huge game. He was really starting to hit shots all over the yard. He singled that night in our 6-3 win.

The next day against Sun Valley he played his best game of the year. Greeting Fat Bitch from SV with two absolute SHOTS in his first two plate appearances. Both doubles. Balls that were hit as hard as anything we had hit all season. He drew a walk and picked up another single later in the game….going 3-3 with the all the money on the line.

Yeah …this guy was clutch too!

That night he was in on a 1-5-4 rundown that resulted in an out ….a 2-5-4 back-pick that resulted in an out….and caught a line-shot and back-picked to first for a double play.

Again….he stepped up.

The next day he added another base hit in our 11-1 drubbing of Panorama City.

The next day we were still in the hunt for the division title and played Newhall-Saugus over at their yard. He hit the ball with authority yet again. Doubling and singling in our 4-3 nail-biting win and extending his hitting-streak to four games.

The last four games of the regular season he was 7-13 with three doubles….and hitting the ball HARD. There were several guys we had who carried us offensively down the stretch that last week of the season …and Yves was one of them.

Yet another example of 1992. We never knew who was going to step up or when. But everybody did at some point. And this guy was crucial to us getting to 20 wins and reaching the playoffs for the first time.

We only had five guys in our team history who played three seasons for us. Yves was one of those guys too!

Old number eight himself. The guy with the tough last name to spell….

The guy with probably the coolest first name to go with that last name on earth!

Yves? We loved having you in a Verdugo uniform all three years…

Thank you for 1992 and all three seasons with us!