By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Riverside set out Thursday to begin play in its Fatty’s Invitational tournament with a bang. They indeed delivered.

Bryant Tassin’s fifth-inning RBI single plated the team’s 10th and game-clinching run in a 10-0 victory over West Jefferson at Riverside, finishing things by the 10-run rule.

Tassin poked one to right through the infield and brought home Dylan Martin to seal the win.

“I actually swung at a bad pitch there,” said Tassin. “But the result was good.”

Said Riverside coach Matt White: “A 10-0 win over a Class 5A team, we’ll certainly take that. We were able to use a couple of guys today on the mound, and we’ll have everyone intact for the weekend.”

The Rebels (5-4) led 5-0 entering the fifth inning after scoring two runs in the first inning, two more in the second and one in the third.

West Jefferson pitcher Keviv Tejada issued walks to Austin Vicknair and Grady Gieger to lead off the inning. Vicknair then went to work – he stole second base during Gieger’s at bat, then stole third with C.J. Edler at the plate. He’d score on a passed ball to make it 6-0. Edler then sacrificed a run home on a ground ball to make it 7-0.

With two outs, Kaleb Bush singled to get things started again. Taylor Brignac walked and Martin collected a hit and RBI to make it 8-0. Tate Scioneaux and Tassin each collected base hits to finish the game.

The Rebels’ two-run second inning came as the result of some increased aggressiveness on the bases. One came on a double steal (Brignac scored from third as Martin stole second) and the second came after Martin stole third and an errant exchange from West Jefferson catcher Mike Smith and third baseman Roberto Pomar saw the ball slip into left field. Martin crossed the plate to make it 4-0.

“We left a lot of runners out there today, we had a few guys thrown out,” said Riverside coach Matt White. “But we’ve needed to be more aggressive out on the bases. We’ve had a little too much standing around out there … we want to push runs across, not wait for them to happen.”

Tate Scioneaux started the game and went two innings, throwing just 17 pitches. Ashton Perret (2-1) picked up the win in relief, going the final three innings. Scioneaux allowed no hits and no walks to West Jefferson (1-6), the only baserunner allowed reaching on an error. Perret gave up two hits and struck out two.

White said before the season that he wanted to implement more “small ball” principles, as has been his style in the past. For that to be successful, he said, a team-wide attitude must come with it.

“We need to be unified, to get into the spirit of the team,” said White. “Be more unselfish, because this is an unselfish sport. You sacrifice when it’s asked. Your team’s success is your success.”

Tassin agreed.

“I thought we made a lot of progress today,” he said. “We were a lot louder in the dugout and we met everyone on the field when they came off. We just had a lot of fun today. I felt like we came together.”

The game was originally scheduled to open tournament play Friday, but Riverside rescheduled because of the boys’ basketball semifinal game taking place in Lafayette that afternoon.

The Rebels will be off today but return to finish the tournament tomorrow with games against Thibodaux (1 p.m.) and Lutcher (4 p.m.)

The Riverside-Lutcher game pits White against Lutcher coach Davey Clement – the two shared the same graduating class at Riverside.

“The competition gets a bit stiffer,” said White. It’s three playoff teams, those guys coming from Class 5A and 4A. So we’re going against two quality programs. Lutcher’s always a rivalry. It should be a playoff-like atmosphere on Sunday.”