Spartans rally past Parkview Baptist

East Ascension scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally past Parkview Baptist 6-3 in non-district play Tuesday night at Johnny Ambeau Field.

“It is a credit to our guys,” East Ascension head coach Wayne Grenfell said. “They could have not showed up but they did. They thought they could win from the first pitch and they played that way.

Our kids knew we could come back and tonight they played unselfish. If we continue to play unselfish, we have a chance to be successful.

The victory over defending Class 3A state champion Parkview Baptist ended the Spartans’ five game skid, which included four loss at the Bayou State Classic this past weekend. 

“Offensively, we just have to stay at it,” Grenfell said. “We have to keep working and start believing in ourselves. A couple of guys believed in themselves tonight. Obviously, the way we have to win games, is the way we played tonight. We have to make the other team make errors and we did that tonight.

“This weekend, we hit every ball right at them and they made every play. We left runners at third a thousand times. We had a chance to do some positive things in a good situation and tonight, our kids came through.”

Ethan Guidry picked up the win for East Ascension striking out three in two innings of relief while giving up one hit and one walk. John DeArmond lasted two innings surrendering three runs on six hits and one walk before Logan Fife pitched three innings of middle relief allowing no runs on two hits and one walk while striking out two.

“We pre-planned,” Grenfell said. “We tried to get them some work for the weekend. We still got four games so we wanted them all to be fresh but we wanted to find something to build on.”

Brady Wilson lasted five innings for Parkview Baptist allowing one run on four hits and two walks while striking out eight. Andrew Reeves took the loss going 1/3 inning while surrendering five runs on one hit and two walks. Drew Dileo allowed one hit in 2/3 innings of relief.

“They are a good ball club,” Parkview Baptist head coach M. L. Woodruff said. “They out coached us and outplayed us tonight. They played better than we did tonight and were the better baseball team.”

Both teams had base runners in the first inning but couldn’t manufacture runs.

Dileo lined inside the third base bag to open the second inning but Brooks Godbery lined into a double play from shortstop Marcus Bailey to second baseman Levin Fairchild. Wilson lined to center but Tanner Schafer popped up to end the inning.

Brant LeGendre led off the top of the third inning with a home run off the scoreboard before Brennan Middleton lined a double inside the third base bag. Alex Edward followed with a towering shot to over the left center wall to plate two more runs giving Parkview a 3-0 lead. Fife struck out the first batter he faced in Alex Byo before Reeves reached on an error. Dileo beat out a grounder to the mound before Wilson drew a two-out walk to load the bases but Fife struck out Schafer to get out of the inning.

East Ascension center fielder Austin Todd made a diving catch in center in the fourth inning robbing LeGendre and Byo’s pop up ended the inning.

The Spartans answered in the bottom half when Adam Trahan lined a lead off triple to the right gap. Jared Klienpeter lined through the left infield to put East Ascension on the board. Tim Robinson lined to right and Troy Gautreau drew a walk to load the bases but Wilson struck out Miles Holley and Todd to get out of the inning.

Wilson hit Bailey in the fifth inning before he stole second and advanced to third on a pass ball after Trahan line out to the center field warning track. Bradly Day drew a walk but Klienpeter grounded out to Wilson to end the inning.

Guidry retired the first four batters he faced striking out Wilson and LeGendre in the sixth inning.

Robinson drew a walk off Reeves to open the bottom of the sixth inning and stole second before Gautreau reached on catcher interference. Robinson and pinch running Chris Sanchez advanced on a pass ball before Holley’s grounder to third plated a run when Robinson was called safe at home on the throw from Justin Pellichino.

Todd lined over Byo’s head at first to plate two runs and put East Ascension ahead. After Fairchild’s sacrifice bunt Bailey drew a walk before being caught in a potential run down that crossed another run. Trahan grounded off the second base bag that was a potential double play before Ben Robinson bunt scored the final run of the game.

Edward dropped a one-out double to the right gap in the top of the seventh inning before Byo drew a walk but Reeves grounded out to Bailey and Guidry struckout Dileo looking to end the game.

Trahan was 2 for 4 with one run and Tim Robinson as 1 for 2 with two RBI and one run.