A decade later, another marathon: Rummel tops Jesuit in 15 innings

Sometimes, history repeats itself … just maybe not entirely.

Eleven days shy of the 10th anniversary of their meeting in one of the epic games in New Orleans high school baseball history, Archbishop Rummel and Jesuit had a near-repeat performance Saturday afternoon and early evening at John Ryan Stadium.

The Raiders scored twice in the top of the 15th inning for a 4-2 victory over the Blue Jays.

It would end up three innings shorter – and with a different winner – than the 2012 instant classic, captured by Jesuit 2-1 in 18 innings. But it certainly brought back memories of that night for many.

One of those experiencing flashbacks was former Rummel and major league pitcher Kirk Bullinger, who was the color analyst on the telecast of the 2012 game – more on that in a moment – and a nervous dad on Saturday as son Brock came on in relief for the Raiders in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Bullinger said. “(The two games were) so eerily similar, it was insane. To me, once it got past the 13th inning, I’m thinking we’re on a collision course with history here.”

In another twist of fate back to a decade ago, Rummel third baseman Casey Avrard – whose older brother C.J. was on the 2012 Jesuit team – delivered a one-out single in the top of the 15th to plate in Gavin Nix with the go-ahead run. The Raiders got some insurance when courtesy runner David Ally scored on an error.

Bullinger then retired the Blue Jays in order in the bottom of the frame to close out a brilliant relief performance. In 6 2/3 scoreless innings, he allowed three hits, walked three and struck out five.

Bullinger’s season got off to a slow start after a preseason back injury.

“We hadn’t had Brock (at full strength) all year,” Rummel coach Frank Cazeaux said of Bullinger, who had thrown a total of five innings prior to Saturday. “He throws all three pitches for strikes.

“In 36 years, I haven’t been in a game this long. It was a heckuva game, back and forth.”

Both teams scored single runs in the third inning on RBI hits by Giancarlo Arencibia of Rummel and William Good of Jesuit.

It headed to extra innings tied at 1. Rummel took a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth when Evan Burg scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Arencibia, but Jesuit evened things in the bottom half when Luke Brandau’s sacrifice fly plated Alex Jeansonne.

From there, Jake Moreci and Bullinger matched zeroes until the 15th.

When the team that eventually became Crescent City Sports first ventured into an era of video broadcasts – both on TV and internet – of high school sports in the spring of 2012, the Rummel-Jesuit game was the third game it aired (Watch the final four innings here).

The regular broadcast team for that first season of high school baseball, Ken Trahan and Danny Riehm, had to be shuffled that night. Trahan was on assignment at an Arena Football game in Florida, so Riehm slid to the play-by-play chair and Kirk Bullinger stepped in as analyst.

On this Saturday night, the pinch-hitting analyst was thinking back to the gutsy performances of 2012, not only by starters Mitch Sewald and Emerson Gibbs, but Rummel reliever Andrew Popadopolous, who worked 7 2/3 innings in relief of Sewald and was a hard-luck loser.

This time around, the gutsy performance by a Rummel reliever earned a victory, and the hard-luck loss – for the second time in 10 days in extra innings – went to Jesuit’s Moreci, who gave up two unearned runs in 6 2/3 innings.

“I waited for him to come out of the stadium and tell him what a phenomenal job he did,” Kirk Bullinger said of Moreci. “Unfortunately, someone has to get the loss hung on them. Fortunately, for Rummel, and fortunately for my son, he was able to take home the win.”

There have been more than a handful of classic baseball matchups between these schools over the years – playoff games, district and state championship games, extra inning games. That Friday night in 2012 certainly ranks among the top.

Now, nearly 10 years to the day, there is another to join the list.

Area Prep Baseball Results from Saturday, April 2

Archbishop Rummel 4, Jesuit 2 (15 innings)

Ascension Episcopal 9, Loranger 0

Avoyelles 19, Donaldsonville 0

Bonnabel 15, Douglass 10

Booker T. Washington (NO) 7, West Jefferson 6

Brother Martin 8, St. Charles Catholic 2

De La Salle 6, Archbishop Hannan 1

Destrehan 13, Central Lafourche 0

Doyle 5, Bunkie 2

Ecole Classique 10, Ben Franklin 3

Lakeshore 8, Pearl River 2

Madison Prep 11, Livingston Collegiate 6

Northshore 2, Fontainebleau 0

Ponchatoula 5, Mandeville 3

Salmen 6, Franklinton 2

St. Amant 12, French Settlement 0

St. James 16, Helen Cox 0

St. Martin’s Episcopal 9, Patrick Taylor 7

St. Stanislaus (MS) 7, Newman 6

Thomas Jefferson 5, Kenner Discovery 2

Warren Easton 10, Karr 3

West Feliciana 13, Albany 3