Wildcats frustrated by Destrehan pitching
Published 12:02 am Wednesday, March 30, 2016
- East St. John baseball players Justin Schnyder, No. 7, C.J. Turner, No. 4, and Chase Henderson, No. 9, stand in the on-deck circle preparing to face Destrehan pitcher Landon Marceaux before Saturday’s game. Marceaux pitched a one-hitter. (Lori Lyons/L’OBSERVATEUR)
DESTREHAN — When Justin Schnyder safely reached first base in the top of the seventh inning in Saturday’s District 7-5A game against Destrehan, it drew appreciative cheers from both sets of Wildcats fans.
It wasn’t a particularly hard hit, nor did it take any strange hops. It was the simple fact that it was the only one East St. John had that made it special.
East St. John head baseball coach Jade Falgoust, in black, prepares to take infield practice with his team before Saturday’s District-5A game against Destrehan. Destrehan defeated the Wildcats 5-0.
Destrehan pitcher Landon Marceaux took a no-hitter into the last inning, only to give up a sharp grounder to Schnyder with one out. He struck out 10.
“My hat’s off to that pitcher,” East St. John coach Jade Falgoust said. “He threw a hell of a game. He’s a great pitcher. Then we had four or five balls that they made great catches on. Those were hard hit balls.”
Schnyder, who also was the starting pitcher for East St. John, gave up five hits and struck out two.
With the loss, Destrehan dropped to 9-9 overall and 1-2 in District 7-5A play with games against Hahnville and Terrebonne looming this week.
East St. John got things started with a solid 10-3 victory over H.L. Bourgeois on March 22, but then dropped its next two games.
The Wildcats finished with 11 hits against H.L.B. Schnyder and Brown each had three hits.
Schnyder also pitched three innings, helping hold the Braves to five runs. The following day, East St. John was held to six hits in a 9-4 loss to Thibodaux. Janoi Rose had a pair of hits and three RBIs for the Wildcats and also pitched four innings.
Riverside and West St. John also all got their district schedules underway last week. St. Charles Catholic was scheduled to start this week.
District 12-2A teams play a back-to-back schedule, meaning a team plays an opponent in successive games in one week. Coaches are moving toward this trend in an effort to keep teams from saving pitching for certain opponents or throwing their ace in back-to-back games.
East St. John, which competes in the much larger District 7-5A, plays all six opponents in order through two rounds, but the Class 5A regional and quarterfinal playoff games will be a played as a best 2-out-of-3 format.
St. Charles Catholic has played the most games of any team in St. John the Baptist Parish (18), but didn’t start its district play until this week. The Comets (14-4) were scheduled to host Newman on Tuesday and travel to Newman on Thursday.
Riverside had a tough time with the Greenies last week. The Rebels opened with a 2-1 loss to Newman on March 22, then came back to take a 4-3 win on Thursday.
In the first game, Riverside could get little going offensively as Allen Denis held the Rebels to two hits and struck out 10. Mason Vicknair got one of Riverside’s hits and Dane Edler got the other.
The Rebels’ lone run came with the help of a Newman error in the fourth.
On Thursday Vicknair had a little more success against the Greenies. He walked twice, hit an RBI triple and scored one run.
He also pitched a complete game, giving up five hits, two earned runs and striking out seven.
Riverside was scheduled to play a double-header against West St. John on Tuesday.
The Rams (1-5) opened with a 13-2 loss to Country Day last week but Thursday’s second game was rained out. It has been tentatively rescheduled for Friday.
West St. John is scheduled to play its two games against Riverside this week, then its two games against St. Charles on April 12 and 14.
