Arencibia shines again as Rummel blanks Jesuit

NEW ORLEANS – In big games, you want your big players to step up in big fashion.

For Archbishop Rummel, that happened in a huge way Tuesday night at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.

Tulane commit Giarcarlo Arencibia pitched another shutout, LSU commit Mikey Ryan homered, Louisiana Tech commit Gavin Nix had three hits and two RBI and Tulane commit Evan Burg singled home a run as the Raiders blanked Jesuit 6-0 to split the two-game District 9-5A series with the Blue Jays. Jesuit won the first meeting 7-3 last Saturday.

Arencibia pitched a two-hitter, walked two and struck out 10 for his fifth win of the season to run his scoreless streak to 19 innings.

“It feels great to have no runs on the board and to get the win but none of that happens if we don’t have these guys behind me,” Arencibia said. “If we don’t get the big hit, if we don’t get a great play by Brandt Frey and have guys making plays behind me, we don’t win. I came into this game doing what I wanted which was to keep my pitch count down and to get my breaking stuff going.”

Arencibia threw 90 pitches.

Rummel jumped on top 1-0 in the top of the first inning. Ruben Ramirez was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a two-out, RBI single by Burg.

The Raiders lengthened the lead in the top of the third when Ramirez reached on an error and Ryan belted a 2-run home run to make it 3-0.

“I had been struggling a little bit so I just stuck with my approach and it worked out tonight,” Ryan said. “It was a high fastball. Coach told me to stop taking pitches and I was able to get to it. Jesuit had our number the last few games so if felt good to get on top of them and to get momentum going for Giancarlo. We know how good he is and he is pretty much unstoppable when he has it going. I feel really good about this team. I feel we are getting better as the season goes on.”

Rummel got insurance runs the top of the fifth when Lenny Cline was hit by a pitch and courtesy runner Dominic Mendieta advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a groundout. Mendieta scored on another wild pitch to make it 4-0. Nix followed with a 2-run single to left to make it 6-0.

Jesuit finally broke up the perfect game in the bottom of the sixth on singles by Derek Delatte and Luke Werling but Arencibia escaped without allowing a run. His streak of 17 consecutive hitless innings came to an end.

Starter Everett Denny took the loss, allowing six runs (five earned) in five and a third innings. Jay Comboy finished on the mound for the Blue Jays.

“Giancarlo did a hell of a job tonight,” Jesuit coach Kenny Goodlett said. “Rummel is a very good team. They made the most of their opportunities. We gave them a couple. Credit to them. They are a good team. We just have to be better. We have to find a way to learn from this and to do a better job with more competitive at-bats but we tip our hat to Giancarlo. He is a heck of a pitcher.”

The Raiders played flawless defense behind Arencibia, with outstanding plays made by Ryan, Nix and Brandt Frey.

“We played very well and Giancarlo was very tough on the mound and I thought we swung the bats when we had to swing it,” Rummel coach Frank Cazeaux said. “I thought we played an outstanding game defensively. I felt worse about it than Giancarlo did when he gave up the two hits. When you have a six-run lead, you challenge the hitters. That’s what he did. I told Mikey he was taking too many pitches, to be aggressive in the zone. He got a hold of one and crushed it. That makes us a lot better. I thought the kids played extremely hard. Jesuit is always tough, a very good team, very well coached.”

Rummel (14-6, 5-1) returns to District 9-5A play next Tuesday against Karr at 6:30 p.m. at Wesley Barrow Stadium.

Jesuit (14-7, 3-2) plays Vandebilt Catholic Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium.

FINAL
Rummel 102 003 0 — 6 7 0, 9 LOB
Jesuit 000 000 0 — 0 2 3, 2 LOB
WP—Giancarlo Arencibia (5-1)
LP—Everett Denny (2-2)
Time of Game: 2:03
SB—Ruben Ramirez-2, Mikey Ryan-2, Gavin Nix
2B—Aiden Gernard
HR—Mikey Ryan (1)