By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

ST. JAMES – After falling to rival West St. John in last Saturday’s jamboree, St. James looked for a reversal of fortune as it rematched the Rams Thursday, this time in regular season action.

And indeed, things played out differently this time.

St. James pitchers combined to strike out 18 Rams, silencing the West St. John bats en route to a 9-2 non-district win at home.

“We made a few changes to our schedule,” said St. James coach Darrell Hebert. “I was pleased with how aggressive we were on the bases, and it gave their pitcher problems. It helped our bats to come around.”

Said West St. John coach Lennix Madere: “We just didn’t hit the ball. We never found out if they could play defense because it was never in play.”

It was the season opener for the Wildcats. The Rams dropped to 0-2 after a season-opening loss to East St. John.

St. James starter Blake Hymel (1-0) lasted 4.1 innings and struck out 10 batters on his way to the win. He allowed one earned run on a hit and a walk.

“They beat us in the jamboree,” said Hymel. “I wasn’t going to let it happen again.”

West St. John (0-1) seized the early advantage after Hymel Kenneth Dabney, who led off the game in the top of the first inning. He would advance to third on a passed ball and Jarius Moll hit a chopper in the infield that recorded an out, but scored Dabney to make it 1-0.

St. James (1-0) answered and tied the game on Cameron Scioneaux’s RBI single in the inning’s bottom half.

St. James made its move in the second inning. After a Ram error let Colin Louque on base to lead off, Louque would steal second and score on Ben Falgoust’s line drive single off of Moll (0-1) to center field. After St. James scored again on a passed ball, Logan Aubert laced an RBI single that scored Antoine Landry, who reached on another Ram error.

“I tell them that you can’t catch a single, but you can catch a routine ball,” said Madere. “We weren’t doing that, and you’re not going to win that way.”

That made it 4-1, and a Scioneaux would come through for his second RBI on a sacrifice fly later in the inning to make it 5-1.

Hymel began to heat up. He struck out seven straight batters at one point, including the side in the second and third innings.

“I was just feeling it,” said Hymel.

Moll made it 5-2 after his fly ball to right field dropped in for a single — he’d score on a passed ball in the fourth.

But Hymel helped his own cause by blasting a two-run double in the bottom of the inning. Scioneaux collected his third RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to make it 8-2.