By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — Riverside scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie and emerge with a victory over East St. John Thursday, 5-2, in the season opener for both teams.

The game was part of the Brother Martin baseball tournament and was played at Chalmette.

“It was a great high school baseball game,” said Riverside coach Matt White. “I’m happy to get out of there with a win. East St. John played extremely well.”

Wren Vicknair went 2-for-4 with a solo home run. Grady Gieger was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. C.J. Edler was 3-for-3, Evan Veron was 1-for-1 with an RBI. And Jeremiah Berteau was 1-for-2 with an RBI.

Donald Lee had a two-RBI double that tied the game in the fifth inning. “The crux of the issue is that we left 13 guys on base,” said East St. John coach Curtis Tsuruda. “It’s no different than in football, marching into the redzone five times and kicking five field goals. It’s how you end up losing a close game.”

Vicknair (1-0) also earned the win for Riverside after coming on in relief of starter Trevor Kenney. Vicknair pitched 1.1 innings and allowed no runs, striking out one. Kenney allowed two earned runs in 4.2 innings and struck out four. Tate Scioneaux pitched the final inning and earned the save. He allowed one hit and struck out two, walking none.

Daniel Franklin (0-1) went the complete game for East St. John, striking out nine.

“He pitched a heck of a game for them,” said White. “He was a workhorse.”

Said Tsuruda, “I was encouraged that we battled back. We tied it up and effectively made it 0-0 again. But now we have to learn how to battle back and finish.”

RIVERSIDE 11, CHALMETTE 2 — In the Rebels’ second game of the day and the season, Gieger slammed a home run and went 2-for-4 with three RBIs as Riverside took a big win over the host Owls.

Edler was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, an RBI and two runs scored. Deuce Wallace was 2-for-2 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored.

Tanner Lawson (1-0) earned the win for Riverside, going 5.1 innings and allowing no runs.

Riverside scored a pair of runs in each of the first, third and fourth innings to go ahead 6-0. The Rebels scored five in the top of the seventh to take an 11-0 lead.

White said before the tournament that he planned to use Scioneaux, his ace, just as he was in the East St. John game throughout the tourney: as a closer, while the Rebels try to determine the pecking order in the rest of the rotation. So far, so good, said White, as a number of Rebels pitched well Thursday.

“We got a solid effort from a freshman in Tanner Lawson, a quality game from Trevor Kenney,” said White. “We need to cut down on the walks. We walked nine against East St. John. But I thought it was a solid day.”�