By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. Charles finished its season-opening Comet Classic tournament over the weekend with a record of 2-2 after following up a loss to Mandeville with wins over Evangel and Sterlington Saturday and Sunday. The Comets finished tournament play with a loss to Lutcher.

The Comets outslugged Evangel Saturday, rebounding from a lopsided Mandeville loss with a come-from-behind victory. St. Charles scored five runs in the sixth inning to erase a 9-8 Evangel lead, and freshman Conner Smith pitched a scoreless seven for the save.

“We came out and played with intensity,” said St. Charles coach Paul Waguespack. “With a sense of urgency. We had a lot of energy against Evangel. Brady (Hitt) kept us in the game on the mound and we were able to come up with a big inning at the end. And it was good for Conner to get his feet wet and get the save,”

Brady Hitt’s RBI single tied the game in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded, Chad McNeil’s sacrifice bunt RBI gave SCC a 10-9 lead. Then LaJaylin Smith put things out of reach with a 3-run home run.

Hitt’s single capped a big day in which he went 4-for-4 with six RBIs, including a triple and a home run.

The game was split over Saturday and Sunday, with the teams playing until darkness Saturday then resuming Sunday morning.

Chad McNeil picked up the win for SCC, coming on in relief of Hitt, who started on the mound.

The Comets put Sterlington away early, scoring five runs in each of the second and third innings to win 12-2 by the 10-run rule in five innings.

Mackey Cortez had a base clearing 3-run double in the third. Hitt, LaJaylin Smith, and

Austin Ourso all had RBIs. Jeffrey Hall collected two RBIs. Jared Keating’s two-run single capped the game off.

Brennan Zeringue earned the win on the mound, going all five innings and allowing four hits while striking out three.

On Sunday, the defensive issues that plagued St. Charles resurfaced against Lutcher as the Bulldogs defeated the Comets 18-3, taking advantage of a slew of walks and seven errors by the Comets pitching staff and defense.

Lutcher led 2-0 before a nightmarish fourth inning for the Comets. With the bases loaded by a walk and two errors, Mason Millet drew a walk from starter Cody McMurry to make it 3-0.

With two outs, Chase Caldarera drilled a ground rule double to the fence to drive in two runs and make it 5-0. Back to back errors brought home Lutcher’s sixth and seventh runs. It set up Cody Duhon, who blasted a 3-run home run off reliever Conner Smith to make it 10-0.

“They had 13 ground ball outs and two fly ball outs. They put a lot of pressure on us,” said Waguespack. “Seven errors, so they did what they needed to do. A lot of good team at bats. We have a lot of work to do … we can sit here and make excuses, but we just got whipped today.”

Shane McNeil got SCC on the board in the bottom of the inning with a two-run double then Hall made it 10-3 with an RBI single.

Lutcher (2-2) added eight more runs in the fifth inning to slam the door, quieting any thoughts of a Comet rally. That surge was highlighted by a 3-run home run by Sully Martin, an RBI single by Jared Poche, and three errors that led directly to four runs.

St. Charles walked 11 batters and hit another on the day.

“It starts when you don’t throw strikes and you put your defense to sleep,” said Waguespack. “I handle our pitching and I need to do a better job.”

“We’re just a scrappy little team that likes to be out here,” said Lutcher coach Davey Clement. “I know St. Charles has a better team than what they showed today. Baseball is a crazy game. Evangel 10-run ruled us, they beat them, then this today. There’s no doubt in my mind they’ll bounce back.

“The thing I’m happy about, when you have a team underwater, you don’t give them a chance to swim. You keep them underwater, and we did that today.”

Waguespack said that he’s looking to the team’s yearly trip to Monroe for tournament action this week as a potential spark.

“I’m hoping it brings us together and gets us going in the right direction. Because I’ll tell you what, it gets no easier from here,” he said. “This is a big weekend for us.”