By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — Destrehan coach Marty Luquet knew two things: that his team needed a victory Monday, and that host East St. John has been a much more dangerous team since the first time the two teams squared off on April 10, a 14-4 DHS victory.

But Luquet’s team hit the ball early and often, scoring runs in all but one inning of an 11-3 District 8-5A victory on the road.

The game was rescheduled after originally being rained out Saturday.

Brennan Quigley and Ryan Burks each collected four hits for Destrehan.

East St. John entered the game on a roll, winners of three of their previous four games, including a win over Ehret and a tough loss to Hahnville.

“We knew they had played well over the last four or five games. Our seniors were huge today,” said Luquet. “East St. John is always tough to beat here, especially when they get the fans going.

Said ESJ coach Curtis Tsuruda, “I thought we competed, but it needs to be for seven innings … Destrehan is fighting to push in (the playoffs). They were going to give us their best shot. You’re playing for diamonds today, instead of rubies, so to speak, and we needed to play to that level.”

Kade Granier earned the win for DHS, going all seven innings and allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out four.

Destrehan led 1-0 entering the second inning, where it extended its lead after a pair of errors set up a first and third situation with one out. Jesse Bryant drove in DHS’ second run. After Brock Benedetto reached on a catcher’s interference call and Jace Weber walked, a passed ball with the bases loaded led to a third Destrehan run.

The third inning began with back to back singles by Quigley and Kade Granier. Michael Smith bunted them over before a pair of wild pitches plated runs four and five.

“We needed to get off to a good start,” said Quigley. “Jump on top and keep the lead. We came through when we had chances to score.”

East St. John began to stir in the bottom half of the inning, however, sparked by a leadoff double by Shawne Jackson that hit the wall. I’Kee Brown reached on an error; he was thrown out at second after a wide DHS throw to first base, but Phil Adams doubled him home after an Ahmani Martin walk. Martin was thrown out at home, but ESJ collected a pair of two-out hits by Diontra Rixner and Ashton Lewis, each bringing in runs to make it 5-3.

Destrehan added to its lead immediately after a Burks single was followed by a two-out RBI single by Quigley.

Neither team scored in the fifth, but Destrehan began to pull away in the sixth. Weber singled, then Burks doubled him home to make it 7-3; he was caught in a rundown, but Ryan Brewer walked and another double by Quigley made it 8-3. The inning’s third double belonged to Smith and DHS led 9-3 after six innings. A two-RBI double by Quigley capped the Destrehan scoring.

“This was probably our best game in terms of situational hitting,” said Burks.

EAST ST JOHN 6, JOHN EHRET 4 — The Wildcats’ upset of Ehret was keyed by a fourth inning rally in which East St. John scored four runs to erase a 4-2 deficit and establish its final margin of victory.

Daniel Franklin struck out 11 batters in earning the complete game victory. He allowed seven hits.

The Wildcats (11-15) committed no errors in the game.

Franklin also did some damage at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Ashton Lewis went 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

“We put all three phases together,” said Tsuruda. “They 10-run ruled us the last time out, but our guys came ready to play. Daniel mixed it up well and hit his spots.”

HAHNVILLE 10, EAST ST. JOHN 7 — Hahnville handed East St. John its most lopsided defeat of the year, a 13-1 loss on April 9. But Thursday saw a see-saw game in Boutte that the host Tigers pulled out thanks to a three-run fourth inning that broke a 7-7 tie.

HHS led 4-0 after two innings, but ESJ fired back with four runs in the third to tie. The Tigers scored three more in the bottom half, but ESJ matched that effort and the teams were tied at 7.

Dylan Keller and Tyler Simmons each drove in a pair of runs for Hahnville.

Ashton Lewis hit a two-run home run.

ESJ issued 10 walks in the game.

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