By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

 

LAPLACE — Just three weeks ago, the St. Charles Catholic baseball team stood on its home field in triumph, celebrating a dramatic rally past E.D. White to clinch a district championship.

On Monday, the Comets rallied from an early deficit again, this one even more daunting than the last. But the Cardinals were able to shake off the Comets’ surge this time, capturing a 7-5 Class 3A quarterfinal win to advance to the state baseball tournament in Sulphur.

SCC tied the game 5-5 after falling behind 5-0. But Nick Falgout’s solo home run in the top of the sixth lifted E.D. White (25-9) to a 6-5 lead, and the Cardinals added an insurance run in the seventh.

“You just can’t get down four runs against anyone before you even get to the plate,” said St. Charles coach Paul Waguespack. “We did a great job battling back. I think after that, though, it was like we had nothing left.”

Jon Mayeaux earned the win for E.D. White, coming on in relief of starter Scott Szush. He allowed one hit and one walk over 4.1 innings.

Chad McNeil started the game for SCC (27-8-1), pitching two innings before being relieved by Bleakley, who allowed three hits and two earned runs in five innings. He walked no batters.

St. Charles trailed 5-0 to begin its half of the second inning. The Comets began scratching their way back after Nick Montegut walked to lead off the inning. Jeffrey Hall scored him from second, doubling to make it 5-1. With one out, Luke Poche reached on an infield single. Austin Weber hit a ball to short that was mishandled for an error, and another run scored.

SCC tied the game in the third. Macky Cortez singled, then Montegut doubled him home on a deep fly ball to make it 5-3. With two outs, Brandon Zimmer slammed a two-run home run well over the outfield wall to tie the game while charging up the Comets’ dugout.

“All I said was, ‘here we go’,” said E.D. White coach Shane Trosclair. “Another St. Charles and E.D. White game at its finest.”

That home run knocked Szuch out of the game.

“I thought (at the time) that we’d swung the momentum,” said Waguespack. “But for whatever reason, we went back to playing tight after that. We were tight to start.”

The teams combined for one hit over the next two innings. But with two outs in the sixth, Falgout got a hold of a David Bleakley curveball and socked it over the left field wall, creating a Cardinals celebration and a 6-5 advantage.

“(Bleakley) did a great job keeping us off balance. He just hung a curve to Nick … he didn’t really hit it hard, but it carried out,” said Trosclair.

In the seventh, a Logan Barbera double later turned into a sacrifice fly that made it 7-5.

Mayeaux faced the minimum over his final two innings, ending things by overcoming an error in the seventh by inducing a double-play ground ball to seal the win.

E.D. White scored four runs in the first inning, the big hit a two-out, bases-loaded triple by Michael Caire to deep center.

Alex Becnel’s RBI double in the second inning pushed the lead to 5-0.

Waguespack said the loss was painful in part because this year’s Comets’ squad was a particularly enjoyable bunch to coach. SCC overcame a 3-5 start to the season to go 24-3-1 over its final 28 games, earning the second seed in Class 3A.

“Nobody cared who got the credit, they just wanted to win,” said Waguespack. “I feel bad for our seniors … we all get another shot at this, but they won’t. But as I told them, they’ve got nothing to hang their heads about. The goal was Sulphur, but it was still a successful season.

“We were just outplayed today. They beat us … that’s the game of baseball.”