By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

The fourth time just might be the charm.

St. Charles Catholic’s baseball team gets to find out this week if that’s true as they hit the road for their fourth consecutive trip to the state baseball tournament where they are set to open with a semi-finals round match-up with Livonia.

The winner of that game will advance to face the winner of the Menard vs. Sterlington semi-final game in the title match set for Wednesday night at the University of Louisiana in Monroe.

But just because SCC has been consistent in qualifying for the state tourney, don’t think that it’s a cakewalk. The Comets 11-5 road win over Vidalia for the quarter-finals was a lot closer than it sounds, courtesy of a six-run eighth inning that put it away. St. Charles needed an offensive burst to come alive in this one after falling behind 4-3 through six innings of play. Kyle Faucheaux helped change all of that with a two-run homer to left field that put SCC on top in the top of the sixth. Vidalia tied the game with their next at-bat and it went into extra innings after neither team scored in the seventh.

Last year at this point, St. Charles was a hands-on favorite to take their first state championship after compiling a 26-7 record after going undefeated in district play. But Ouchita Christian stood in their way with a 4-3 semi-finals victory that prevented St. Charles from meeting 10-2A rival, and eventual state champion, Riverside for the Class 2A title.

This year, SCC enters the tournament with a 24-8 record and seven senior starters to replace the seven that graduated from last year’s district champion squad. Philip Sutton, B.J. Cancienne, Matt Walters, Jonathan Cancienne, Steven Duhe, Matt Eriksen and Faucheaux are all set to finish their high school careers this week, hopefully with a win.Their first obstacle in making that happen is a Livonia team and their 19-8 record.

Livonia placed second in their district this season, 7-2A, and are coming off a 5-4 upset of Ouchita Christian in the quarter-finals. Their first and second round playoff games were also squeakers as they took a 5-4 win over Pine Prairie in regionals and an 8-7 win over Fisher in bi-district play. On the other side of the bracket, Menard would look to be favored as

they own a 26-8 record and are one of the only district champions remaining in 2A play. But Sterlington has seen Menard already this year and beaten them in the final game of a tournament at Menard in early March.

Either way, St. Charles has their work cut out for them. The Comets have yet to bring home a state championship despite playing for it in 2004, against Parkview Baptist, and in 2005, against John Curtis.