ANDRE BURL / L’Observateur / April 13, 1999

BOUTTE – Dewey Matherne hit two home runs and Hahnville held off a late East St. John rally to remain in sole possession of first place in District6-5A with a 9-8 victory Tuesday afternoon.

Hahnville improved to 13-5 overall and 5-0 in district play. East St. Johnfell to 9-11-1 overall and 3-2 in District 6-5A.

East St. John’s Brandon Mason struck first in the top of the first inningwith a line drive bullet to the gap in left-center for a stand-up double.

Mason took third on a passed ball and scored on a ground out to second by Jeremy Mitchell.

Matherne uncorked a shot over the right field fence for a solo home run in the bottom of the second to knot the score at one. Jerome Anderson got outof a two-out jam in the inning to keep the game tied.

In the top of the third, East St. John went down in order thanks to a divingstab by second baseman Brandon Kelly that prevented a sure hit up the middle by Randy Sutherland.

Coming into the bottom of the fourth with the game still tied at one, Matherne stepped in and clobbered his second home run, this time a rocket over the center field fence. Erik Donnaud followed with a double off thewall in center field and Brian Risinger walked to put runners at first and second with none out.

After Picard sacrificed the runners over, Sirmon laid down a bunt, beating it out for a single as Donnaud scored. East St. John coach Carey Ourso thenbrought in Mitchell from right field to pitch. Mitchell walked JeffWilliams to load the bases. Kade Rogers then hit a sinking liner to rightfield that fell in, bringing in two runs to make it 5-1.

After Chris Hawkins walked with two outs to reload the bases, Ourso brought in Samson Monica to pitch. Matherne drew a walk, bringing in thefifth run of the inning. Donnaud then stepped in and sent a single down thethird base line, bringing in two runs to make it 8-1. The Tigers would endthe inning after sending 13 batters to the plate.

The Wildcats looked to rally in the fifth. With one out, Darwin Pittman,Tie Reese and Terron Charles walked to load the bases. One out later,Mitchell was hit by a pitch and Roydell Williams walked to bring in two runs. Monica followed with another walk to cut the deficit to 8-4 beforeHahnville coach Britt Oubre brought in Matt Caire to pitch.

Kent Roussell greeted Caire with a single to center to score two runs.

With runners at first and third, Caire struck out the next batter to get out of the inning.

In the bottom of the inning, Sirmon sent a hard liner into the right field corner for a stand-up double and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jeff Williams. Rogers then walked and stole second. Kelly followed with afly ball to right field that fell in, allowing Sirmon to score from third to make it 9-6.

Both teams failed to score in the sixth. With one out in the top of theseventh, Williams forced a walk. One out later, Roussell kept the Wildcats’rally alive by blasting a shot to left field for a two-run home run, cutting the deficit to 9-8.

Anderson followed with a walk but Caire got the next batter out on strikes to preserve the win.

East St. John hosts Thibodaux today while Hahnville travels to Houma toplay Terrebonne.

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