Wildcats held 7-4 lead heading into sixth inning
The Destrehan Wildcats had No. 4 Jesuit on the ropes, leading 7-4 heading into the sixth inning. But the Blue Jays delivered the knockout punch in the final two frames, scoring 10 runs to end the Wildcats’ season by a 14-7 score.
The Wildcats, who were seeded 20th in the playoffs, had already knocked off No. 13 seed Archbishop Shaw in the first round and had another upset on their minds against Jesuit. The Wildcats took an early 1-0 lead on a home run by Zachary Schexnaydre in the bottom of the first that cleared the center field wall.
The Destrehan lead was short lived as Matthieu Robert blasted a two-run homer to center field in the second to give Jesuit a 2-1 advantage.
The Wildcats tied up the game in the bottom of the third. Cameron Quigley was hit by a pitch to start off the inning and courtesy runner Rodrigo Rodriguez advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jacob Marino.
Rodriguez took third on a wild pitch, and came in to score on a throwing error at third.
Jesuit retook the lead in the top of the fourth after Josh Facaine singled to center and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jonathan Lee. The Blue Jays added another run in the top of the fifth on a Destrehan error and held a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the frame.
That’s when the Wildcats scored five runs without even recording a hit.
Jarius Vinnett walked to start the inning and Jace Weber was hit by a pitch to put two Wildcat runners on. Both runners would advance to second and third, respectively, on a wild pitch, and the bases were loaded after Schexnaydre was hit by a pitch.
When Ryan Burks became the third hit batter in the inning, Vinnett would score to cut into the Jesuit lead, 4-3.
The Wildcats tied up the game after Brandt Bourgeois drew a walk, and they took the lead on a bases-loaded error that gave them a 6-4 advantage.
The final run of the inning came on a Jesuit error on a hard hit ball by Jacob Marino.
Though Destrehan held their biggest lead of the game, Jesuit wasted little time making a comeback in the sixth. Tony Fortier-Benson singled to center to lead off the inning, and Destrehan ace Bourgeois walked the next two batters to load the bases.
Bourgeois then walked Robert to bring across a Jesuit run, and the Blue Jays tied up the game on a single to right by John Morse.
Armand Daigle followed with a sacrifice fly to give Jesuit an 8-7 lead, and the Blue Jays didn’t look back as they piled on six runs in the sixth and four in the seventh for the win.
Bourgeois suffered the loss after giving up seven earned runs on four hits in five innings. He struck out four.
Jesuit’s Brandon Shearman got the win in three innings of relief, allowing no hits and striking out four.
Schexnaydre, Burks and Bourgeois all finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Jesuit will face off against No. 5 Barbe in the quarterfinals on Friday.
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