Michael Kiral / L’Observateur / April 20, 1998

EDGARD – St. Charles Catholic jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the top of thefirst on its way to a 19-0 victory over West St. John in a District 9-2Abattle Thursday afternoon.

St. Charles Catholic remained in a first-place tie with Riverside indistrict play with a 7-1 record and is 15-7 overall. Riverside played hostto Ecole Classique Friday afternoon. West St. John fell to 2-8 overall and1-7 in district play.

Both teams were coming off big victories Tuesday, St. Charles a 13-6victory over Riverside and West St. John a win over Ridgewood, so St.Charles Catholic coach Frank Monica said it was important to get control of the game early. That the Comets did, sending 14 batters to the plate inthe opening frame.

Ty Monica led off the game by stroking a single to center field. BrianHorvath followed with a walk and John Price was hit by a pitch to load the bases with none out. After Rams starter Brian Lumar struck out WayneStein for the first out, Jason Gonzales singled past third, bringing in Monica and Horvath to give the Comets a 2-0 lead.

Price came in to score on a wild pitch as Matt Weber drew a walk. Steven Faucheux then hit a grounderto shortstop Marlon Lewis whose throw went into the dirt at first, allowing Gonzales to score. Tom Froehlich followed with a grounder thatskipped past second baseman Jerome Isom as Weber scored the fifth run of the inning. After Faucheux scored on a wild pitch, Jon Clement lined asingle to center, bringing in Froehlich to make it 7-0.

Joseph Gross came in to relieve Lumar and got Monica to ground out to second before walking Horvath and Price. Horvath and courtesy runner SeanBurger came around to score on wild pitches to give the Comets a 10-0 cushion. Dernell Fleming tracked down Gonzales’ fly ball near the centerfield wall to end the inning.

Gross pitched out of a jam in the top of the second, getting Froehlich to fly out to right and Monica to hit a chopper in front of the plate with two runners on.

Fleming collected the Rams’ first hit in the bottom of the second by beating out a grounder to Horvath at short. Price, the Comets’ starter,stranded him there by striking out Travelle Gordon and Craig Moll.

Faucheux would come up with a defensive gem in the bottom of the third, diving to his left to snare Lewis’s grounder for the first out of the inning.

The Comets would increase their lead to 19-0 in the top of the third.

Gonzales brought in one run with a sacrifice fly, Weber and Froehlich had RBI singles and Faucheux a RBI double and Clement drove in two with a home run over the left field wall. Moll came in to get the last out of theinning and pitched scoreless ball over the last two innings.

Fleming reached first in the bottom of the seventh as Price threw a wild pitch on strike three. Price came back to strike out Gordon, Moll andAmone Lumar to end the inning. The game was called after five innings dueto the 10-run rule.

“It was important for us to establish ourselves early,” Monica said of the 10-run first. “They beat Ridgewood and that got our attention. They gotenough pitching to give us trouble. They are a dangerous team and anytimeyou go on the road, you have to be happy to have success.” Price went the distance for the Comets, giving up one hit while striking 12 in improving to 3-1 on the season.

“Price did a real good job, he kept the ball low,” Monica said. “When youget good pitching, everything else falls into place.”

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