Eagles move to 5-1 in 1-8A diamond play with Saturday 3-2 loss to ACHS

St. John High fell into second place in the District 1-8A baseball race Saturday afternoon when Ascension CHS tallied a tie-breaking run in extra innings to defeat the hosting Eagles in Plaquemine by a narrow 3-2 score.

ACHS pushed its record to 5-0 with the victory, while the local SJHS club slipped to 5-1 in league play and to 15-5-1 for the season.

St. John held a 2-1 lead over the early innings of play, but ACHS rallied to tie the score at 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning. The game with four scoreless innings until ACHS pushed across what proved to be the winning run in the top of the ninth inning.

Kade Yarbrough and Shea Ourso pitched for the Eagles in the loss.

SJHS 7, CLA:

Ourso tossed a two-hit shutout, while Garrett LeStage and Mike Martinez drove in two runs apiece to lead the way to a 7-0 road victory over Christian Life in Baton Rouge early last week.

The win boosted the Eagles to a 5-0 mark in District 8-1A. Overall the Eagles moved to 14-4-1.

Martinez blasted a two-run home run, while LeStage drove in a pair of runs with key singles. He also stole two bases.

Wesley Miller had an RBI triple, while Ourso rapped a double. Trevor Curry had an RBI single and stole three bases, while Seth Gulotta added a base hit.

Ourso struck out 13 and walked only one in an outstanding pitching effort.

SJHS 15, ASCENSION CHRISTIAN 0:

Yarbrough pitched a two-hit shutout, striking out 9 and walking 7 to lead the Eagle defense, while Martinez again led the offense with his second-straight home run game.

Martinez drove in four runs with a home run and a double. Morgan Booksh had a career-first varsity home run and added a single.

Dakota Richard sent home three runs with a timely base hit, while Ourso drove in a pair with a single.

Miller added two singles and an RBI, while LeStage and Cole Verret had RBI singles.

SJHS 2, RUNNELS 1:

Early last week the Eagles followed up their district win over Christian Life by downing a solid Class B Runnels Academy diamond club by a narrow 2-1 score.

Sophomore Seth Gulotta and senior reliever Yarbrough ended up winning a pitching duel with the Runnels starter Mark Morris. Gulotta gave up three hits, but Yarbrough pitched the final two innings and struck out four of the six batters he faced and did not give up a hit in relief. Gulotta posted the victory and Yarbrough a save as the Eagles rallied in the third inning for two runs to erase an early 1-0 Runnels lead and the game went four innings without another score.

Senior catcher Verret drove in a run and had two singles, while senior first sacker Martinez continued a recent hitting streak with a pair of singles. Kaleb Campesi drove in a run with a base hit. Campesi and Martinez record stolen bases in the narrow victory. SJHS moved to 15-4-1.