MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / May 9, 1999

METAIRIE – Archbishop Rummel jumped on top with seven runs in the first and Brandon Barthel took it from there, retiring 15 straight Destrehan batters as the Raiders defeated the Wildcats, 10-0, in Class 5A bi- district action Thursday evening at Mike Miley Stadium.

Rummel (30-2) advances to the regionals where they will play at Mandeville. Destrehan ended its season at 14-14.Left fielder Carlos Velasquez led off the bottom of the first for the Raiders with a home run to right off Destrehan starter Craig Naquin. AfterKenny Ford grounded back to Naquin, Martin LaRocca singled to center and came home on Timmy Blanke’s home run to left field, giving the Raiders a 3-0 lead.

Paul Williams followed with a walk and Chris Bush beat singled to short with Williams beating the force at second. Thomas Diamond then launcheda double to left-center, scoring Williams to make it 4-0. A sacrifice fly toright-center by Donald Rigand brought in Bush with the fifth run of the inning.

Shawn Woodland added a single to left, scoring Diamond. Destrehan coachMatt Willoughby then brought in Vince Maggiore to pitch. On a hit and runtwo pitches later, Velasquez lined a single to center, scoring Woodland from first to make it 7-0. Maggiore then got Ford to fly out to right to endthe inning.

Rummel added a run in the third as Diamond opened the inning with a single and was forced at second by Rigand. Rigand then stole second andadvanced to third on a throwing error. Woodland followed with a grounderto second with Rigand beating Kenny Perrier’s high throw to the plate to give the Raiders an 8-0 advantage.

Third baseman Mike Catalano made a diving stop and threw out LaRocca to open the fourth. Blanke and Williams followed with singles with bothrunners moving up on Bush’s grounder to short. After Diamond was hit by apitch, pinch runner Jon Wilhite scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-0.

While the Raiders were building their lead, Barthel was shutting down the Wildcats. Barthel did not allow a runner to reach base, striking out eight,including the side in each of the first and third innings.

Rummel closed out the game in the bottom of the fifth. Woodland led off by chopping a single between first and second and Velasquez followed with a walk. Ford then lined a single off Naquin’s glove at short asWoodland came in to score the Raiders’ 10th run of the game. The gamewas then called because of the 10-run rule.

East St. John 9, Belaire 8

BATON ROUGE – East St. John got a measure of revenge Thursday, defeatingBelaire and pitcher Josh Teekel, 9-6, in the Class 2A bi-district playoffs.

East St. John (17-13) advances to the Class 5A regional playoffs thisweek. The Wildcats will play West Jefferson, a 12-2 winner over KennedyThursday. Belaire, the District 4-5A runners-up, finished at 18-14.Teekel struck out 15 batters in blanking the Wildcats, 7-0, in regionals last year, but did not have the same success this time around. RoydellWilliams, Jeremy Mitchell, Tie Reese and Darwin Pittman each had two hits and Samson Monica homered as the Wildcats picked up 11 hits.

East St. John trailed 2-0 after the first inning but came back to take a 5-2lead in the fourth. Belaire tied the game at 5 with three runs in the fourthbut the Wildcats scored three in the fifth and added one in the sixth for the win.

Jeremy Mitchell picked up the win for the Wildcats.

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