St. Amant crushes Assumption in Gator Invite

ST. AMANT - St. Amant (13-5-4) scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to ten-run rule Assumption 11-1 Saturday morning in the Gator Invitational at Gator Park.

“To me that wasn’t a ten-run rule game,” St. Amant head coach Bob Lemons said. “We had chances to blow it open earlier. We had a lot of chances and left a lot of people on base. We let them stay around until that one inning when the guy walks a few people and the ball happens to fall in and they throw it around.

“We didn’t pound the baseball. We won but to me it wasn’t a complete effort. We did enough to win. We are capable of being a good baseball team but we have to show up on a consistent basis.”

A.J. Bonadona dropped a two-out blooper to right field just inside the third base line allowing two runs to score and sled into home on a throwing error for the decisive run.

Lee Elisar drew a lead off walk off reliever Eric Coupel before pinch running Daniel St. Pierre stole second. Kenny Wilkins drew a walk after Caleb Templet strruck out and Dylan Delaune’s walk loaded the bases. Jake Boudreaux took the mound and Tanner Sheets’ grounder to second was bobbled allowing two runs to score before Bonadona’s blooper.

“When you play good teams you can’t give them free bases by walking them,” Assumption head coach Daniel Manry said. “You can’t give them extra opportunities by making errors. That really cost us. We put the ball in play but they are a good team and good teams make plays. Defense cost us today.”

Justin Manton (1-0) picked up the win for St. Amant giving up one run on four hits and one walks while striking out nine over six innings. 

“He kept them off balance a little bit,” Lemons said. “He will be a guy we go to in the future.”

St. Amant also picked up a 6-5 victory over Mandeville Friday night and an 18-8 victory over Ponchatoula Saturday night. The Gators fell 4-3 to Fontainebleau Thursday night to open the tournament.

Delaune got St. Amant started off against Assumption (3-8) with a one-out solo home run to left off starter Jordan Bergeron in the bottom of the second inning. Sheets lined to right before Bonadona lined off the shortstop and Chris Boyter beat out a bunt to load the bases. Dillon Morin’s ground out allowed a run to score before Bonadona scored on a pass ball to make it 3-0. Elisar drew a walk but Templet grounded out to end the inning.

Bonadona reached second on a throwing error to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning and scored on another error on Sheets’ bunt. Morin drew a walk and runners advanced on a pass ball before Elisar’s fly to right plated a run. Another run crossed when the ball got away to put St. Amant ahead 6-0.

Templet lined to left before Wilkins drew a walk and Coupel hit Kahn Petite to load the bases but Delaune grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Assumption picked up their lone run in the fifth inning when Andrew Naquin reached on a campfire in shallow right. Manton sandwiched strikeouts of Broday Andras and Vance Boudreaux around hitting Coupel before Andrew Gianelloni beat out a grounder to load the bases. Manton struckout Bergeron to end the inning after a pass ball cut the lead to 6-1.

Bonadona was 2 for 4 for St. Amant with one RBI and three runs, while Boyter was 2 for 3.

Delaune (0-1-1) took the loss against Fontainebleau giving up four runs on three hits and one walk while striking out three over five innings. Petite was 2 for 3 with one RBI, while Delaune was 2 for 3 and St. Pierre was 1 for 3 with one RBI.

Jake Bordelon (4-0) picked up the win over Mandeville striking out eight over six innings while giving up three runs on five hits and five walks. Morin got the save in 2/3 innings of relief giving up one run on two hits. Wilkins was 1 for 3 with two RBIs and Sheets was 1 for 3 with one RBI.

Morin (5-0-3) got the win over Ponchatoula striking out four over three innings while giving up five runs on five hits and four walks. Delaune hit a grand slam in the sixth inning and was 2 for 4 with five RBI, while Templet was 3 for 5 with four runs, Sheets was 2 for 4 with two RBI and Morin was 1 for 2 with two RBI as the Gators scored 10 runs in the second inning.