By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. Charles made a strong bid to finish its stretch of seven games in 10 days with a mark of 7-0. But Holy Cross had other ideas.

The Tigers scored four runs in the fifth inning to negate a Comets’ comeback surge, paving the way for a 10-6 win for Holy Cross at Comet Field.

“We’re happy with this stretch, going 6-1. Of course, we’re disappointed that we had a chance to go 7-0 and didn’t,” said St. Charles coach Paul Waguespack. “But it was a good run, and now we’ve got a week to get ready for Riverside.”

It was a matchup of top teams across classifications, as Holy Cross is the third-ranked team in Class 3A according to power points, while the Comets are ranked third in 2A.

The wind was blowing out at SCC – the game saw five home runs, four by the Tigers.

Two of those came in the first inning. Brian Reaney blasted a solo home run deep to center field off of freshman pitcher Connor Smith, then Jonathan Billings followed with a two-run shot to deep left two batters later to make it 3-0.

Holy Cross (14-5) did it again in the third inning on Brandon Herrera’s two-run shot, making it 5-0.

But the Comets (12-6), as they did Monday against Central, showed resiliency in the face of adversity. Brady Hitt got a big fourth inning started for the Comets when he drew a walk, then Macky Cortez followed with a home run to left field that made it 5-2. Chad McNeil drew a walk and LaJaylin Smith singled. Luke Poche was hit by a pitch to load the bases and effectively knock starting pitcher Blake Prest out of the game in favor of reliever Dustin Dalton.

Jeffrey Hall came through, socking a base hit to the outfield that scored two runs and made it 5-4. Donnie Savoie reached on an infield hit, then courtesy runner Ahmani Martin scored on a passed ball to tie the game. Jared Keating put SCC ahead with a sacrifice fly to the outfield.

But in the top of the fifth Holy Cross fired back. Shayne LeRouge doubled and Billings walked. Hitt came on in relief of reliever McNeil, who started the inning. But Ryan Deemes punched a ball to right field to bring home the tying run, then Ryan Taylor plated another run with his infield single – SCC missed a tag. Blake Toscano collected his own RBI single and Kyle Gardner matched that effort to make it 9-6.

“You make a mistake, then another, and all of a sudden it’s 9-6,” said Waguespack. “We had to make a play. If we make a play there, then things are different headed into the last two innings.”

LeRouge added a solo home run in the sixth to round out the scoring for Holy Cross.

St. Charles’ best chance to make a late push came with two on and one out in the sixth. But Cooper Gioe got Hitt to foul out, then Shane McNeil’s hot shot line drive was caught and the St. Charles threat finished.