By Michael Kiral / L’Observateur / March 16, 1998

RESERVE – The East St. John Wildcats showed off their team speed,stealing eight bases on their way to a 15-5 home victory against Higgins Tuesday afternoon.

The Wildcats improved to 3-5 on the season while the Hurricanes fell to 2-5.

Leadoff hitter Roydell Williams had four of the stolen bases, including a steal of home in the third inning. Kerry Watkins and Samson Monica hadtwo steals apiece.

The running game started early for the Wildcats as Williams led off the bottom of the first inning with an infield single to short off starter Jason Percle and stole second. Following a walk to Monica, Watkins grounded tothird. Mario Burringa stepped on the bag to force Williams, but his throwto first sailed past Mark Hill, allowing Monica and Watkins to advance to third and second, respectively.

Seraphiane Martin followed with a looping fly ball to center that fell in front of Blaine Dufrene, bringing in Monica and sending Watkins to third.

Kent Roussel then reached on an error by second baseman Edwin Dufrene, allowing Watkins to score. With two outs, Jeremy Mitchell kept the rallyalive with a single to center, scoring Martin and giving the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.

The Hurricanes answered with two runs in the top of the second. KevinHowan opened the inning with a single to left and advanced to second on a balk by James Brock.

Following a strikeout by Hill, Edwin Dufrene laid down a bunt in front of the plate. Brandon Mason fielded the ball but threw high to Watkinscovering first, allowing Howan to score just ahead of Watkins’ throw.

After a walk by Jonathan Jackson and a groundout by Corey Burke, Kelly Donahue singled to left to bring in Dufrene, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

The Wildcats got a run back in the bottom of the inning as Williams reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, went to third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch.

East St. John broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of thethird. With one out, Jerome Anderson and Mitchell singled. After bothrunners moved up on a wild pitch, Mason brought Anderson home with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Brock then helped himself, singling to center field to score Mitchell. Afteranother wild pitch, Williams singled. Monica followed with a fly ball thatwas dropped by Burke in left field, scoring courtesy runner Theron Jones and sending Williams to third.

After Monica stole second, Williams broke for the plate, outrunning the pitch by Percle and sliding underneath the tag of Donahue. Monica, who hadstolen third on the play, came in score on a wild pitch to give the Wildcats a 9-2 lead.

East St. John added two runs in the bottom of the fourth on consecutivedoubles by Roussel, Anderson and Mitchell. Higgins responded with threeruns in the top of the fifth on singles by Donahue, Percle and Howan and a double by Burringa, bring the Hurricanes to within 11-5.

The Wildcats responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning to win the game by the 10-run rule. Williams led off with a walk and stolesecond.

Monica followed with a triple to the left field wall and came around to score as Watkins popped a double between the Higgins’ infielders in short center field.

Martin followed with a single to left to score Watkins. After a balk sentpinch runner Theron Charles to second and Roussel and Anderson got out, Mitchell grounded to second. Dufrene’s throw sailed past first as Charlesscored the Wildcats’ fourth run of the inning.

Brock went the distance for the Wildcats, allowing five runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out five and walking one. Brockimproved his record to 2-0 on the season while Percle fell to 0-2.

Mitchell was the hitting star for the Wildcats, going three-for-four with two runs batted in. Williams, Martin, Anderson and Brock each had twohits as the Wildcats racked up 14 hits for the game. Donahue and Howanled the Hurricanes with two hits apiece.

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