MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / May 9, 1999

LUTCHER – Pearl River put Lutcher to the test in the regional playoffs Wednesday, scoring a run in each of the first four innings. But the Bulldogshad an answer each time, scoring runs of their own in the bottom half of the innings to take a 12-4 victory.

Lutcher (20-9) advanced to the quarterfinals where they played at Notre Dame. The Pioneers defeated Franklin-ton, 4-1, Wednesday. Pearl River,the District 11-3A championships, finished its season at 18-6.

Pearl River got on the board first against Lutcher starter Damian Ursin in the top of the first inning. Mike Carrasco led off with a single to right,advanced to third on two passed balls and scored as shortstop Troy Haydel bobbled Nathan Saucier’s two-out grounder.

Lutcher came right back in the bottom of the inning. Wesley Louque led offby grounding to third and reached as Carrasco threw high to first. DavidMiller followed with a chopper to the mound with Pearl River starter Brandon Erwin overthrowing second on the attempted force out, allowing Louque to advance to third.

After a walk by Haydel loaded the bases, Louque scored on a wild pitch by Erwin. Miller then came across to score as Carrasco overthrew the plateon Cleavon Webster’s grounder to third. Rusty Crosslin followed by lining adouble into the left-center field gap, plating Haydel and Webster to make it 4-1.

Pearl River got a run back in the second, loading the bases with none out on a single by Kenney George and walks by Jeff Parker and Jacob Johns.

Carrasco then lined a single to left, scoring George to make it 4-2. Withthe bases still loaded with none out and the middle of Rebels’ batting order up, Lutcher coach Scott Tribble brought in Matt Roussel to pitch. Thesophomore, who had thrown fewer than 10 innings this season, came through, striking out Justin Holley, Erwin and Josh Polk to end the threat.

Lutcher built its lead back to 5-2 in the bottom of the inning. With oneout, Louque singled to right, went to second on a balk, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Miller’s long fly out to center.

Pearl River added a run in the third as Saucier doubled to left-center to open the inning and came in to score on George’s ground out to first.

Lutcher answered again as Ursin launched a two-out home run over the left field fence, giving the Bulldogs a 6-3 lead.

After Johns led off the fourth with a single to center and Carrasco followed with a walk, Crosslin came in to replace Roussel on the mound.

Crosslin struck out Holley but Erwin followed with a single to left to score Johns. Crosslin then came back to strike out Polk and Saucier to endthe inning.

Lutcher broke the game open in the bottom of the inning. Jeremy Martin ledoff with a walk and was sacrificed over by Rob Bleakley. Louque then lineda single through the box to put runners at the corners. Miller followed bydropping a single in front of a diving Holley in left, scoring Martin to make it 7-4.

One out later, Webster beat out a chopper in front of the plate to load the bases. A walk by Crosslin and a hit by pitch by Ursin brought in Louque andMiller, giving the Bulldogs a 9-4 lead.

Crosslin shut Pearl River down the rest of the way. In the fifth, he gave upa one-out walk by George and a single by Parker but came back to get Johns to fly out and Carrasco to hit into a force out. Erwin singled andSaucier walked with two outs in the sixth before Crosslin got Brandon Cooper to fly out to right to end the inning. Crosslin then retired the sidein order in the seventh.

Lutcher added three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Haydel led off bygetting hit by a pitch and Webster followed with a walk. Crosslin thengrounded back to the mound with Haydel scoring as Erwin overthrew second on the attempted force out. Ursin followed with a double to left,scoring Webster and courtesy runner Ben Martin to make it 12-4.

Ursin (5-1) picked up the win for the Bulldogs.

“Damian didn’t do it on the mound but he did it at the plate,” Tribble said of Ursin who went 2-for-3 and drove in four runs. “Matt comes in andstrikes out three in a row. He came in and gave us two innings and did aheck of a job. Rusty then came in and shut them down.”We put the bat on the ball and put the pressure on the defense. They didn’trespond at times and we were able to put runs on the board. We never gavethem the opportunity to switch momentum to their side.”

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