By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

MONROE — St. Charles split four games at last weekend’s Monroe baseball tournament, returning from its road trip on a high note after winning two straight.

SCC fell twice to begin the tournament, 12-5 to West Ouachita and 4-1 to Ouachita Christian.

The Comets were leading in the second of those games, 1-0, in the bottom of the fifth inning, but an error led to Ouachita Christian getting on the board to tie things up before taking charge of the game.

Austin Weber took the loss on the mound, but gave up no earned runs. He and Eian Mitchell each earned two hits at the plate.

But the Comets bounced back with an 8-0 victory over North Webster behind six strong innings by winning pitcher Zach Roussel. Roussel allowed just two hits and struck out two. Lloyd Nash earned a pair of hits at the plate.

SCC rounded out tournament play with a 2-1 victory over Tioga. Nick Scioneaux earned the win in that game, going the complete game and allowing five hits.

The Comets scored two sixth inning runs to take the win. Weber had two hits and Roussel added another.

“I was really disappointed in the way we played to start the tournament,” St. Charles coach Wayne Stein said. “We committed seven errors. After that, I just asked our guys to compete. The good thing was we got back at 10:30 p.m., went to sleep, woke up and got right back out there. There wasn’t much time to sulk.

“We ended by beating a really good Tioga team. I thought our guys being able to brush off that poor start said a lot about this group.”

He said Weber, Scioneaux and Roussel each “had big outings” on the mound, key as the Comets continue to solidify their rotation.

“We don’t have that big-time strikeout guy,” Steins said. “When you have to field 21 outs, mistakes can happen. We played a pretty flawless game (defensively) against Tioga. Our pitchers are doing a good job attacking the strike zone.”

The two wins were important for a Comets team that had uncharacteristically lost four straight.

“That’s probably happened less than three times since I’ve been here,” said Stein, who was SCC’s longtime assistant coach before taking the head-coaching helm last season. “I think the offense will come soon. Defensively, we need to be sound. If we don’t have strong defensive play, we won’t have a chance.”