MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / March 24, 1999

LUTCHER – The Riverside and Lutcher coaches might want to look into getting double time and a half pay for this week.

Not only did the Rebels and Bulldogs have to play on a Sunday this weekend but they had to work overtime to decide the final game of the Lutcher Bulldog Classic.

Joey Poirrier’s sacrifice fly in the top of the tenth drove in Dustin Zimmer with the winning run, giving Riverside a come-from-behind 8-7 victory Sunday afternoon. The win improved the Rebels to 13-2-1 overall whileLutcher fell to 9-6.

Despite the loss, the Bulldogs captured the tournament title after tying the Rebels and Hahnville with 2-1 records in the tournament. SinceLutcher defeated Hahnville by six runs (9-3) and the Tigers defeated Riverside by two (6-4) earlier in the tournament, the Rebels had to beat the Bulldogs by six or more runs to win the title. Both Lutcher andRiverside had defeated Destrehan earlier in the tournament.

Lutcher looked like it would win the title by sweeping the tournament, taking a 6-3 lead into the top of the seventh. Sean Delaneuville opened theinning with a double into the left field corner and Ryan Rome followed with a single to right, cutting the deficit to two.

Bulldog starter Bo Louque got Dustin Duhon to fly out to left and pinch hitter Britt Waguespack to pop up to short but Kenny Clement kept the inning alive with a single to center. Rome came in as Keith LeBlancfollowed with another single to center. Brandon Delaneuville then gave theRebels their first lead of the game at 7-6 with a double to the left-center field wall, scoring Clement and LeBlanc.

Lutcher came right back in the bottom of the inning against Poirrier who had relieved starter Casey Duhe with one out in the sixth. Jeremy Martinled off with a double to right and Damian Ursin was intentionally walked.

Rob Bleakley bunted into a force out at third before Wesley Louque was walked intentionally to load the bases.

With the Rebels drawing in their infield, David Miller bounced a grounder off Zimmer at second, bringing in Ursin with the tying run. Poirrier thengot out of the jam, striking out Trey Haydel and getting Cleavon Webster to pop up to Blake Duhe behind the plate.

Neither team seriously threatened in the eighth and ninth innings before Zimmer tripled to right-center with one out in the tenth against Bulldog reliever Rusty Crosslin. Poirrier followed with a fly ball to center withZimmer beating Miller’s throw to the plate, giving the Rebels an 8-7 lead.

Haydel led off the bottom of the tenth with a single to short but Poirrier got Webster to hit into a double play at short. Poirrier then got Crosslin onstrikes to end the game.

It was the second straight game that Poirrier had driven in the winning run for the Rebels. Poirrier had tripled to defeat Destrehan, 4-3, Saturdayafternoon. In the opener Saturday morning, he homered twice and drove infour runs in the Rebels’ 6-4 loss to Hahnville.

For the tournament, he batted .500 (5-for-10) with two home runs and sixruns batted in. He also picked up two victories on the mound to improve to4-0 on the season.

“I am very pleased with the way we came back today,” Riverside coach Marshall Crooks said. “It was a good experience. Any time you can comeback and win, you learn not to give up. You know you can come back fromany deficit.”Crosslin (2-3) took the loss for the Bulldogs. Louque pitched the first nineinnings, allowing seven hits while five and walking one.

“It was a well-played game,” Lutcher coach Scott Tribble said. “We hadour opportunities. Louque threw nine innings and did what he had to do. Wejust came up a little short. But you have to give credit to Riverside. Theybattled back in the seventh and got the hits when they needed them. It wastwo good teams and Riverside just came out on top.”It was Lutcher that jumped out on top with runs in the first and third innings against Casey Duhe. In the first, Wesley Louque reached on an errorby LeBlanc at short to lead off the inning. Louque stole second, went tothird on a ground out by Haydel and scored on an errant pickoff throw by Blake Duhe. With one out in the third, Miller singled to right, stole secondand scored on a single to right by Webster, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

While the Bulldogs were jumping out to the early lead, Bo Louque was retiring the first nine Rebels he faced, striking out three.

Riverside broke through for a run in the fourth without the benefit of a hit as LeBlanc reached second on an errant throw by Martin on a grounder to third. LeBlanc went to third on a wild pitch and came in to score asZimmer reached on an error by Haydel at short.

Lutcher appeared to break the game open with four runs in the fifth.

Wesley Louque doubled to left-center and Miller walked to lead off the inning. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Haydel singled to centerto score Louque. Webster beat out a bunt to third, loading the bases withnone out.

After Crosslin forced Miller at the plate, Webster hit a looping fly ball to right. Rome dove for the ball but had it pop out of his glove as he hit theground with Haydel coming in to score. Martin followed with a double toright, scoring Webster and Crosslin to make it 6-1.

Riverside came back with two runs with two outs in the sixth. LeBlanc ledoff with a single to short, advanced to second on an errant throw by Haydel and scored on Brandon Delaneuville’s double to left. Delaneuvillethen came in as Zimmer reached on an error by Martin and an errant throw from the outfield.

Lutcher plays at rival St. James tomorrow while Riverside hosts St.Charles Catholic.

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher