LUTCHER — St. Charles coach Wayne Stein has remained steadfast all season in his belief that the Comets offense would come around — and has it ever.

SCC scored 18 runs in Saturday’s 18-8 victory over Riverside in the Comets’ final game of the Lutcher tournament, capping a 3-0 weekend at LHS, each game finished early by the 10-run rule.

St. Charles scored 41 total runs in the three victories, generating a big wave of momentum behind it before a week featuring two games against district archrival John Curtis and a non-district clash with E.D. White.

In addition to the win over Riverside, St. Charles bested H.L. Bourgeois, 10-0, and Erath, 13-3.

“(Offense) is always the last thing to come,” Stein said. “Nineteen hits (Saturday), I won’t say that’s what you’ll get every time out, of course, but it’s a great sign nonetheless. With the emergence of Lloyd Nash as our leadoff batter, our lineup’s really coming along.”

The pivotal time in the St. Charles/Riverside clash came in the bottom of the third inning, just after Riverside’s Jordan Loving hit an RBI double in the top half of the inning to tie the game at 4-4.

Austin Weber, Eian Mitchell and Justin Ory all singled to reach with no outs for the Comets, and SCC (10-5) kept it going. Brady Newman doubled home two runs to put SCC back on top, then Ory scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-4. Justin Loupe — whose first inning single plated two runs — came up big for the second time, smashing a two-run home run to left-center.

“I’m glad it went out — I thought it was a pop fly, honestly,” Loupe said. “But it was the pitch I was looking for, right down the middle.”

The Comets still had no outs and forced two pitching changes in the inning, but weren’t done. Zack Weber singled, Zack Roussel walked and Lloyd Nash singled to load the bases again with no outs. A Dane Authement walk forced home a run to make it 10-4. Austin Weber’s second single of the inning made it 11-4, before Riverside’s Brandon Hymel retired the next three batters to end the threat.

“It’s a big rivalry,” Loupe said. “It was huge for us to come out, answer quickly and score runs like we did. We’re heating up.

“We started a little slow (this year), but everything’s coming together.”

Stein said he’d have liked to see the Comets keep the pressure on with no outs at the end of the surge, but couldn’t complain much about that kind of single-inning output.

“I’ve never felt so exhausted after a 10-run rule win,” Stein quipped. “We had a chance to put them away and didn’t quite get there, and I knew (Riverside) wasn’t going away.

“(But the third inning) was a fun ride. The credit goes to our kids. When we’ve kind of got momentum and we have it going, we’re pretty tough to compete with.”

The Rebels (4-8) didn’t roll over. Sean Mohon led off the fourth inning with a single, followed by an RBI double by Mason Vicknair, an RBI triple by Tyler Gauthier and a Gauthier score on a wild pitch to make it 11-7.

That was as close as Riverside got. The Comets added runs in the fifth on Ory’s solo home run and Roussel’s RBI single. Ory, Newman and Loupe each added RBIs in the sixth and final inning, Loupe finishing his big day with a double.

Loupe went 3 for 4 with five RBIs, a home run and double.

Austin Weber picked up the win on the mound for SCC. Mohon took the loss for Riverside after coming on in relief of Loving, who started.

SCC is in the midst of a stern test, a slate of games against some of the best programs in the state with Erath, Riverside, two games against John Curtis and E.D. White strung together. So far they’re 2-0 in that stretch.

“This is the big five,” Stein said. “And we’re off to a good start.”