No. 10 St. Michael too much for Green Devils in bi-district playoffs
BATON ROUGE – No. 10 seed St. Michael the Archangel overcame a slow start to pound out a season-high 17 hits and claim an 11-3 Class 4A bi-district playoff victory over 23rd seeded Plaquemine on Friday.
The Green Devils (14-10), under coach Scott Allen jumped out to a two-run lead in the top of the first but only managed four hits in the contest. It marked the third time District 6-4A foe St. Michael (22-11) defeated the Green Devils this season.
"We are just so young," Allen said. "We start four freshmen and two sophomores. It is a three-year process but we have some good quality kids so good things will come in the future."
"They hit the ball better than anybody we played all year and put a lot of pressure on you one through nine. They have a chance to go a long way."
St. Michael advances to the regionals at No. 7 DeRidder.
"We got off to a little rocky start but were able to shake it off and our hitters showed up," St. Michael coach Johnny Bernhard said. "We hadn't had that many hits all year and we got contributions throughout the lineup. We put the ball in play with authority."
James Smith (6-1) earned the win for St. Michael allowing three hits over five innings while striking out five and walking three.
Austin Edens was 3-for-5 at the plate with three doubles and two RBIs. Zach Harris also was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Chris Dufor was 3-for-4 with a double and RBI.
Ben Cavalier (5-4) took the loss for Plaquemine over three 1/3 innings. Joseph Keller pitched the remainder.
Cavalier also was 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs, while Dalton Brigalia was 1-for-2 and Julius Maracalin was 1-for-4.
Plaquemine scored two runs in the first inning on an RBI-single by Cavalier followed by a run down gone awry that allowed Maracalin to score.
The Warriors scored a run in every inning with three coming in the fourth and two each in the third, fifth and sixth.
St. Michael tied it 2-2 in the second on Dufour's fielder's choice after Eden's first double in the first put the Warriors on the board.
Kyle Bankston's two run single made it 4-2 in the third after Dufour led off with a double.
John Thomas Mauldin and Smith hit consecutive RBI-singles in the fourth to make it 7-2 after Eden's second RBI-double.
Cavalier's bases loaded fielder's choice cut it to 7-3 after Brigalia led off with a liner to shallow right.
Zach Harris' grounder through the left infield reflected the final tally after Wade Broussard's two-run double in the sixth.
Plaquemine loaded the bases in the seventh but came up empty.
