Comets hit three out, knock off Rebels

Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 27, 2010

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – After St. Charles had defeated rival Riverside twice by the 10-run rule in tournament play this year, it would have been easy to chalk up Thursday’s District 9-2A opener as more of the same.

In reality, it was anything but, as fans at Riverside were treated to a nip and tuck battle that boasted a little bit of everything. But in the end, the Comets once again found themselves the victor, a 9-6 winner in the first of a three game series.

“They battled till the end, and I expected nothing less,” said St. Charles coach Paul Waguespack. “It’s so important to win that first game of a three-game series. You don’t relax, but you feel better about things.”

The two teams will meet again today at 1 p.m. at St. Charles. Tomorrow, the series concludes at Riverside, also at 1 p.m.

The Rebels (3-13, 0-1) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Ritchie Terrio’s grounder led to a St. Charles fielding error after Bryant Tassin and Chase Bazile each reached with two outs.

The Comets (13-4, 1-0) answered in the top of the second after Brandon Becker led off with a double. He’d score on a wild pitch to tie the game. The top of the third resulted in a similar scenario, as Brady Hitt led off with a single and went on to score on a passed ball to give SCC a 2-1 lead.

Riverside answered back on a Austin Vicknair solo home run to lead off the third that tied the game. But Grant Authement led off the bottom of the inning with a solo shot of his own. This time, SCC wasn’t through. Nick Reine doubled to left and Jared Keating bunted the runner to third. Jeffrey Hall walked, and with two outs Brady Hitt launched a fly ball that cleared the right field wall for a 3-run home run to make it 6-2.

“It goes back to practice. When you see it in practice, it comes natural when you see it in the game,” Hitt said of SCC’s hitting output. “He came with a curveball, and hung it a little bit. When you see that, you punish it.”

Said Riverside coach Britt Waguespack: “It’s definitely a hitters park. The first few innings, nothing was getting out. But then all of a sudden, the wind died down. Right field is real short here.”

The Rebels battled back — Jake Roussel, Tate Scioneaux and Kane Keller all singled to load the bases with one out, and Vicknair came through again by dropping a single into left field to score two runs. Dylan Martin’s sacrifice fly scored Keller from third to make it 6-5. Bryant Tassin nearly tied the game on a grounder to third, but Brandon Becker’s throw was ruled to just beat Tassin to the first base bag.

“It’s gonna be a yo-yo match between these two teams,” said Britt Waguespack. “You’ve got real talented players on both sides, and we look at it as a playoff-type atmosphere.”

In the top of the fifth, it was Marc Picciola’s turn hit a lead off homer, giving SCC a two-run lead. And in the sixth, Shane McNeil scored after a ground-rule double on a passed ball, and the Comets would score once more on a double-steal to make it 9-5. The Rebels were finally out of answers.

Jared Keating earned the win for SCC, moving to 4-1 on the season. He went 4.1 innings before giving way to reliever Henri Faucheux, who earned the save.

“We had guys on second and third, we got (Keating) out of the game and they went to the pen,” said Britt Waguespack. “That’s what you want. But Faucheux’s got a pretty good fastball and he did a nice job.

“Today was just a great hitting performance by both teams. It just went their way.”

ST. CHARLES 7, CENTRAL 6 – St. Charles scored five runs in the second inning to key a non-district win over Central.

Brady Hitt hit a two-run home run, and Jeffrey Hall collected two hits and three RBIs. Cody McMurray picked up his third win of the season and Keating nailed down the save.