By Michael Kiral / L’Observateur / March 28, 1998

LAPLACE – Casey Duhe pitch his way out of jams every inning as Riverside defeated St. Charles Catholic, 7-1, in District 9-2A action Thursdayafternoon.

The Comets put runners on base in each of the first six innings but Duhe allowed only a first inning run in picking up his second victory of the season.

Duhe pitched six innings, allowing six hits and four walks while striking out four.

“Casey has a lot of heart,” Riverside coach Tommy Fernandez said.

Joey Poirrier came in to relieve Duhe in the seventh and struck out the side on 10 pitches.

The win improved the Rebels to 8-2-1 on the season and 2-0 in district play. St. Charles Catholic fell to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in district.Anson Matherne broke a one-all tie with a home run over the center field fence with two outs in the fourth. The Rebels added three runs in the topof the fifth to take a 6-1 lead.

Dustin Zimmer led off the inning with a single to right field. After a walkby Poirrier, Sean Delaneuville bunted down the third baseline. St. CharlesCatholic starter John Price (1-1) fielded the ball but threw past first, allowing Zimmer and Poirrier to score and sending Delaneuville to third.

One out later Joel Ortiz lined a double into the left field corner to score Delaneuville.

Riverside added a run in the top of the sixth off Comet reliever Courtney Bonura as Zimmer doubled to center with one out and came in to score as Poirrier sliced a single into right.

The Rebels made it 7-1 in the top of the seventh as Ortiz lined a shot into left-center field that bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double to open the inning. Ryan Rome then lined a shot past Price at first to scoreOrtiz.

After a double by Matherne put runners at second and third with no outs, Bonura pitched out of further trouble by striking out Kenny Clement, Brandon Delaneuville and Zimmer.

Fernandez said his team is beginning to show signs of getting out of an early season hitting slump. The Rebels collected 10 hits in the contest. “We hit the ball today a lot better than we have been,” Fernandez said.

“We played well. I told them that once we put the whole thing together,we may not always win but we are going to give someone a fight.”Comets coach Frank Monica said Riverside just outplayed his team Thursday.

“The best team won today,” Monica said. “They pitched, they hit, theyplayed defense. We are not ready to contend yet. We need to do a lot ofthings better in order to contend.”St. Charles Catholic opened the bottom of the first with a walk by TyMonica. After a balk sent Monica to second and Wayne Stein popped up tosecond, Price lined a single to center to score Monica and give the Comets a 1-0 lead.

Riverside threatened in the top of the second as Duhe walked and Ortiz reached on an error to open the inning. But after Rome sacrificed therunners along, Price got out of the inning by striking out Matherne and getting Clement to pop up to second.

The Rebels tied the score in the top of the third as Brandon Delaneuville led off with a walk. After Zimmer was called out on batter’s interference,Poirrier doubled into the left-center field gap to score Delaneuville.

After Matherne’s home run, St. Charles Catholic looked to tie the score inthe bottom of the fourth as Brian Horvath led off by getting hit by a pitch and was sacrificed to second by Steven Faucheux. Bonura followed with asingle to left to put runners at the corners with one out.

Jon Clement then attempted a squeeze bunt, but Duhe fielded the ball and threw home to get Horvath. Duhe then got Monica to pop up to Zimmer infoul territory to end the inning.

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