By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — St. Charles led late in its home clash with Rummel Saturday, but the Raiders scored three sixth inning runs to ultimately nail down a 5-3 win in a non-district game.

It snapped a four-game win streak for SCC, which had won those games by a combined margin of 54-2.

Mason Bordelon went all seven innings for SCC, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out six. 

Austin Weber and Connor Smith each had two hits. 

“That was a disappointing loss,” said St. Charles coach Wayne Stein. “I felt like we were in a good position to win and we let it slip away. Rummel hung in and eventually made the plays they needed to finish it. We didn’t respond, which is odd for us.”

Stein pointed to runners left on base as a key issue in the loss.

“We left a lot of runners on. It’s been a theme as of late,” said Stein. 

“Hitting in those situations is something we’d done very well up until recently. That loss hurt.”

In its 20-0 win over McMain last week, St. Charles racked up 19 hits, with Connor Smith picking up the win after throwing two scoreless innings. He, Colin Bosco and Brandon Klibert combined for the shutout. 

Kameron Keller, Zach Weber, Colin Bosco and B.J. Waguespack each collected multiple hits, with Waguespack leading the way in RBIs with four.

SCC bested Maurepas a day earlier, 11-0. Weber had two hits while Eian Mitchell and Connor Western each drove in two runs. 

Waguespack started and threw four innings to earn the win. He and Bordelon combined for a no-hitter in the five inning, 10-run rule win.

St. Charles scored seven runs in the second inning and four in the fourth.

SCC now has seven games remaining, including matchups with Chalmette (18-9), University Lab (16-9) and Episcopal (13-10) in non-district games. 

St. Charles is seventh in power points currently, but the 3A rankings are tight: North Vermilion, Livonia, Parkview Baptist, SCC and South Beauregard are ranked fourth through eighth, all with point counts ranging from 28.7 to 28.0. 

“This final stretch is very important for us,” said Stein. 

“On one hand, it’s nice to know that we’re going to be in the playoffs. But at the same time, you don’t want to get there by limping in. We scheduled it this way for a reason.’

“With the power points system, these games are as important as any district game and really, in most cases, more so.’ 

“It’s all about getting as high up there as you can and getting a better matchup.”

St. Charles is scheduled to go on the road to face Chalmette Thursday at 5 p.m.