Porrier tosses one hitter, RA set for STA next week

By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

RESERVE — Riverside opened up the playoffs Thursday afternoon when they hosted Episcopal for the bi-district round in 2A, taking a 7-1 win. The Rebels seemed to struggle a bit from the plate, but pitcher Jordan Porrier took care of that with a defensive effort that allowed only one hit and two base-runners throughout the game.

To start with, the Knights took to the batter’s box first but went three up and down to put Riverside on offense. There, the Rebels set the tone with a quick hit by Lee Haydel chipped up to second base, with the throw to first not in time to get the force out on the speedy Haydel. Porrier came up next and took a walk to put the Rebs in prime position early in the game. But Episcopal managed to turn a double play on the next batter and kept it scoreless going into the second.

But the Rebs didn’t have to wait long.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Riverside squad broke onto the board. David Mabile got it started with a hot-line right over the pitcher’s head and Gavin Richmond followed that up with a walk on four pitches. Third baseman Jade Falgoust laid down what looked to be a perfect bunt down the third base foul line, but he was called out at first on a hairpin close call. Chase Emerson came up next and took a walk to load the bases for Donnie Terrio who sacrifice flied to deep centerfield for an RBI and a 1-0 lead.

In the very next inning Riverside added to their lead when Wade Delaneuville doubled to drive in Porrier for a 2-0 advantage. After a change of pitcher, the Rebels got right back to work. Mabile took the new pitcher’s first delivery through the shortstop, third base gap to score

another run. Richmond also got in on the scoring for that inning with a slow roller to second that allowed Mabile to reach home for a 3-0 lead. And though they put on two more base-runners, Episcopal pitcher Michael Gary worked his way to the third out.

Things started to look really dark for the Knights in the bottom of the fourth when the top of Riverside’s line-up headed to the plate, but the Episcopal defense tightened up and stranded the only base-runner that the Rebels could put on. In the top of the fifth, the Knights finally got something going on offense when Porrier hit the batter giving Episcopal thier first runner on base. The next batter also reached, this time on four balls, but Porrier stiffened and struck out the next batter. The Knights pitcher batted in his teams only run of the game on the next at-bat with a sharp hit to Mabile at second that didn’t make it to first in time.

But after that push, it was all Riverside. Emerson and Terrio each drove in runs in the bottom of the fifth to bring the score to it’s 7-1 final.

The Rebels move to 22-5-2 on the season this year and are set to face district 9-2A champion St. Thomas Aquinas. The starting time and location had not yet been released as of press time. But the brackets are posted at www.lhsaa.org