By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Riverside pulled within a victory of .500 Saturday, toppling visiting Albany 5-3 to notch its fifth straight victory. 

After a stretch that saw the Rebels lose five of six games, RA has topped Newman, Ascension Catholic, South Plaquemines, St. James and now Albany by a combined 46-7 margin. 

Mason Vicknair collected two hits while also notching the win on the mound for Riverside Saturday. He went six innings and allowed six hits while striking out six. 

The Rebels (8-9) scored the first five runs of the game, all in the fourth inning. A two-run Albany (8-8) home run closed the gap in the seventh, but the Rebels finished things off from there. 

“That was a good win for us,” said Riverside coach Matt White. “Albany’s a much improved team and they’re excited about the lefthander we faced. We had some success against him and we kind of jumped on them in the fourth.”

He praised Vicknair and said the Rebels defense was ready to play.

“We made some plays behind him. I thought it was a really strong defensive effort,” said White. 

Offensively, a few Rebels have been swinging a hot bat, as the nearly 10 run a game average over the winning streak would indicate. 

White said Vicknair, T.J. St. Pierre and Jeremiah Berteau have been consistently delivering. 

“They’re tearing the cover off the ball right now,” said White. 

Riverside began the season 4-9 before the winning streak, but White said that the tough schedule to begin the season hardened his team for the stretch run. The team, however, will be tested this weekend: a road tilt with a 17-3 Brother Martin squad awaits Saturday.

“The first four weeks were so brutal for us, with a young team and young staff,” said White. 

“We lost our No. 1 starter (Tanner Lawson, who moved to Texas with his family) before the season, guys are kind of getting a trial by fire against Live Oak, Lutcher, St. Charles … We knew that we’d be fine by this point.”

 

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RIVERSIDE TOPS ST. JAMES 10-0 — Brandon Hymel earned the shutout win on the mound for Riverside as it defeated the Wildcats (4-9) by the 10 run rule in five innings in a District 10-2A game.

Hymel allowed four hits over his five complete innings and walked no batters. 

He struck out six. Vicknair earned two hits to lead Rebel hitters. 

Riverside collected five hits but scored eight runs over the first two innings, taking advantage of some Wildcat walks and errors. Drake Perret drew three walks for Riverside. 

 

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MOHON HURLS NO-NO, REBELS ROLL — Sean Mohon tossed a no-hitter last week, going five innings and walking no batters in a 15-0 Rebels rout of South Plaquemines (4-7). He struck out 12. 

“He gassed up his fastball pretty good,” said White. “They didn’t put it in play, I think, until about the fourth inning. He’s out No. 3 guy right now and he gave us a real strong performance.”

T.J. St. Pierre had three hits while Jordan Loving and Jeremiah Berteau each had two to lead Riverside offensively. 

Loving and Tyler Gauthier each had three RBIs while St. Pierre collected two.