Tom Dodge
HOUMA – The Blue Jays and Lions should know each other pretty well by now.
Last season, No. 18 St. Edmund stunned No. 2 Covenant Christian Academy in the high school baseball playoffs with a 6-2 win.
In the fourth game of 2017, the Lions roared to a 16-5 win in the Blue Jays’ home opener.
When the two teams met again on Thursday night in the opening round of the Division II playoffs, No. 3 Covenant Christian ended the Blue Jays’ season with a 12-2 mercy rule win.
The Lions posted five runs in the bottom of the first inning and rolled to a five-inning victory over No. 14 St. Edmund.
“Getting the lead in a playoff game is big,” CCA coach Joe Teuton said. “A little of the pressure comes off you.”
CCA (24-11) will next host No. 11 Ascension Episcopal at Southland Field Thursday.
Ascension Episcopal upset No. 6 Hanson Memorial 8-5 in the first round of the playoffs to advance to the quarterfinal game at CCA.
The Blue Jays threatened in the first inning when Brock Bieber singled but was left stranded.
The Lions scored first when Austin Champagne singled and scored on a triple by Cameron Olivier.
Olivier scored on a ground out, while Logan Arceneaux walked and scored on a hit by Jahkeen Mosely.
Mosely crossed home plate on a hit by Caleb Seitz.
Courtesy runner Hunter Coffman scored on an error as the Lions pushed ahead, 5-0.
The Jays threatened in the top of the second when Dawson Ardoin reached on an error, while both Austin Gradney and Will Turk singled but again St. Edmund did not score.
St. Edmund scored their two runs in the top of the third inning, begun when Jack Miller singled, Brock Bieber reached on an error and Jack Brown followed with another hit to load the bases.
Luke Doucet hit a sacrifice to plate Miller, while Fontenot double to score Bieber as the Jays closed the gap to 5-2.
The Lions added two more runs in the bottom of the third inning to push ahead, 7-2.
Mosely was hit by a pitch, while Seitz reached on an error and both scored on a double by Caleb Wilson.
Turk singled and Bieber was hit by a pitch in the top of the fourth inning but did the Jays could not score.
Covenant Christian pushed two more runs on a double by Seitz in the bottom of the fourth ning as the Lions began to put the game out of reach, 9-2.
Doucet reached on an error in the top of the fifth but again the Jays could not score to close the gap.
The Lions sealed the win in the bottom of the fifth, begun when Coffman singled, Wilson reached on an error and Devin Babin walked to load the bases.
Champange reached on an error to score Wilson, while Coffman scored on a wild pitch.
The game ended when Olivier drove in Champagne with a sacrifice fly that made it 12-2 and pushed the 10-run rule into effect.
The Blue Jays finished the season at 14-14 overall.
“If we could just get through the first and fifth innings (without giving up so many runs), we would be playing pretty well,” St. Edmund coach Scotty Richard said. “Those innings have been killing us and we just made too many errors. We have a lot of young kids out there, but if we would have played like we had the last couple of weeks, we could have given them a better game.”
Dawson Ardoin worked four innings and took the loss for St. Edmund as he allowed nine runs on nine hits with three strikeouts.
Will Turk went 2-for-2 to lead the Jays, while Austin Gradney (1-for-3), Jack Brown (1-for-3), Jack Miller (1-for-2), Bieber (1-for-2) and Fontenot (1-for-2) also collected hits.
Caleb Seitz, in his second pitching out of the season, got the win on the mound on Thursday night after working 3 2/3 innings, allowing an earned run on seven hits with a strikeout, no walks and a hit batter.
Logan Arceneaux finished things for the Lions on the mound after working 1 2/3 innings, allowing no runs on no hits and striking out two.
The Lions finished with 10 hits including Cameron Olivier (triple, two RBI), Jahkheem Mosley (3-for-3), Seitz (2-for-3, three RBI) and Kaleb Wilson (2-for-3, double).
Last season, the Blue Jays downed No. 15 Ascension Christian (5-4) and No. 2 Covenant Christian (6-2) before falling to No. 7 Oak Grove (11-1)in the Class 1-A quarterfinals.
Houma staff writer Kelly McElroy contributed to this story.