St. Charles scores six in seventh inning, holds off Holy Cross in non-tourney game

By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

A week after securing first place at its own Comet Classic tournament, St. Charles repeated the feat, winning at the Ryan Auto Group tournament in Monroe over the weekend.

The Comets clinched the tourney by going 3-1 over two days, including a 6-5 win over a familiar foe in Sterlington, who tied the Comets (6-3-1) at eight at the Classic tourney.

“If you told me we’d be 6-3-1 after 10 games, I’d certainly take it,” said St. Charles Coach Paul Waguespack. “You’d keep doing that. With the brutal schedule we have, if you’re on a pace to win 18, 19 games, you’re happy with that.”

St. Charles jumped ahead of Sterlington 3-0 in the first inning of their contest on Saturday. Singles by Alex Marse, Corey Reed led to an RBI single by Brandon Becker to put SCC ahead 1-0.

Reed would steal home when Sterlington (5-3-1) attempted to pick Becker off at second base. Becker would advance to third, and eventually score on a RBI groundout by Jordan Millet.

In the second, St. Charles extended its lead when Nick Reine hit a leadoff double, and courtesy runner Tyler Ross stole third in his place. Matt Murphy would draw a walk, and Ross scored on a double-steal to make it 4-0.

St. Charles would run its lead to 6-0 before the Panthers started to climb their way back into the game.  

After SCC’s Brady Hitt relieved starter Jared Keating (2-0), he ran into a trouble patch in the 5th inning. He walked two Sterlington batters, and then gave up three consecutive hits as Sterlington cut the Comet lead in half, 6-3.

With Sterlington’s Ryan Phelps coming up, Waguespack went to the bullpen, calling upon Marse. Phelps had hit six home runs at the Comet Classic a week prior, and threatened to tie the game with one swing.

But Marse got him to pop out, preserving the lead.

In the seventh inning, the Panthers made one last attempt, scoring twice – once on an RBI double off of Marse, and once on a balk by Donovan Duffy.

But Duffy notched the save, striking out the Panthers’ last hope to end the game.

“After tying them last week, to come back and beat Sterlington meant a lot for us. They’re a good club,” said Waguespack.

Contrarily to that game, the Comets were the team staging a comeback in matchups with Von Alstyne (TX) and Crossett (AR)

Against Von Alstyne on Friday, the Comets fell behind 6-0 after two innings.

“We were sleepwalking through the early part of that one,” said Waguespack.

But it didn’t take long for St. Charles to snap out of it. The Comets scored six in the third, and seven in the fourth to take control.

On Saturday, the Comets trailed Crossett 4-0 after three innings, but won in similar fashion. St. Charles tied the game at 4 in the fourth, then scored four in the fifth and five in the sixth.

Duffy earned the win, and went five innings before Reed came in to finish the game.

St. Charles’ only loss came against Ouachita Christian, 3-1.

The Comets actually out-hit the Eagles, 6-3 but gave up two unearned runs in the game.

Reine went the complete game for the Comets, striking out nine batters in a losing effort.

St. Charles was able to enter the tournament on a wave of momentum, though. After beating Jesuit in the final of the SCC tournament, the Comets were able to hold off Holy Cross last Tuesday to notch a 9-6 victory over the Tigers.

The Comets scored six runs at the top of the seventh inning to take a 9-3 lead. Holy Cross (3-6-1) rallied to score three and bring the tying runner to the plate. But Duffy earned a save in much the same fashion he did against Sterlington – retiring two batters, including a strikeout to end the game.

Hitt started the game for St. Charles before giving way to Marse (1-0), who earned the win, in the fifth inning.

“That was a big win. We hadn’t beat Holy Cross in four tries, and before that we had beat them five straight,” said Waguespack. “I feel like it maybe it’s turned again.”