By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Off to a strong start this season, St. Charles Catholic now must regroup after a pair of heartbreaking defeats.

The Comets lost on the final at-bat of Tuesday’s game at District 11-3A archrival John Curtis, then saw their late rally fall short in a 4-3 home loss two days later. 

Tuesday’s game featured a pitcher’s duel between Curtis senior Evan Hileman and St. Charles senior Mason Bordelon. Both players tossed complete games and worked quickly along the way: the first five full innings were finished in just under an hour. 

Hileman allowed two runs on six hits and one walk while striking out five. Bordelon, meanwhile, allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits and three walks while striking out five. 

“We saw two seniors on the mound going to war with one another tonight,” said St. Charles coach Wayne Stein. “Give (Curtis) credit because they’re a great team and they fought back. I’m proud of our kids, though. I think everyone got a great exhibition of 3A baseball tonight.”

Nick Studzinski both began and capped off the Curtis rally.

First, Studzinski singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth, just after SCC took a 2-0 lead in their half of the inning.  After a Comets error allowed courtesy runner Collin Perez to advance to second, Zack Tripp tripled to deep right field to plate Curtis’ first run of the game. Bordelon and the Comets escaped with no further damage.

Calvin Linden led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left and Jacob Bordelon sacrificed bunted him to second. That brought up Harry Chairs — the Comets intentionally walked Chairs, bringing up Myles Washington. 

“We didn’t want to let Chairs beat us,” said Stein. “Yeah, he was the go-ahead run, but Chairs is leading the metro-area in home runs. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep if we let him beat us.”

But Washington’s ground ball to third led to a fielding error on the throw to first, allowing Linden to score to tie the game.

“He kinda got hung up on what to do (between tagging the runner at third or throwing to first),” said Stein. 

That brought Studzinski back up to bat, still with no outs. He laced a single to center field to ignite a Curtis celebration. 

St. Charles broke open a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth, starting with Connor Western’s RBI single after Dane Authement and Eian Mitchell each drew walks. Connor Smith followed up with an RBI on a chopper up the middle to make it 2-0.

Though a pair of errors in the final two innings cast a shadow over the Comets’ defensive effort, the SCC defense made a number of strong plays, including three double plays and slick stops by Bordelon and first baseman Smith on hard-hit grounders. 

Bordelon, Stein said, did it all in the game.

“I can’t say enough about him. He gave us a chance,” said Stein. “We made a few plays behind him. He dominated and hit his spots on both sides of the plate.”

CURTIS 4, COMETS 3 — Calvin Linden’s early home run helped spur Curtis to a victory in it’s rematch with the Comets on Thursday. 

SCC trailed 4-2 entering the seventh inning and loaded the bases, but Curtis’ Collin Perez retired SCC’s final two batters to earn the save.

Freshman left-hander Daniel Cabrera earned the win for Curtis. He went 6.1 innings, allowing nine hits and three earned runs. 

Austin Weber went 3 for 4 at the plate for SCC. Eian Mitchell and Connor Western each went 2 for 4. 

Connor Smith relieved  starter B.J. Waguespack after Curtis scored three first inning runs. Smith went 6.1 innings, allowing four hits and one run.