REPLAY: Brother Martin outlasts St. Aug to reach semifinals

Two neighborhood rivals who are very familiar with each other met for the fifth time this season with the season on the line.

After being pushed to the limit by No. 10 St. Augustine, second seed Brother Martin outlasted the Purple Knights 5-2 to win the Division I quarterfinal series two games to one in a game seen live on CrescentCitySports.com.

The story of the game turned out to be Cole Navarro.

The poised freshman came in and pitched three shutout innings in relief of senior Caden Durand to get the save.

Most importantly, Navarro entered in a very precarious situation with St. Augustine loading the bases with no outs in the fifth inning with the Crusaders up 5-2. Navarro proceeded to strikeout the next two hitters and got a pop out to escape the inning unscathed.

Brother Martin got a run in the bottom of the first inning on an error, allowing Walker Bazile to reach safely. Bazile advanced on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Eli Booth to make it 1-0.

St. Augustine took the lead in the top of the third inning on a single by Genesis Prosper and a sacrifice bunt by Jeffery Duroncelay. On the bunt, Duroncelay reached on a throwing error and Prosper raced all the way home to tie the game before Bryce Robinson delivered Duroncelay with an RBI single to take a 2-1 lead.

Brother Martin took the lead in the bottom of the third on a single by Andrew Sieta, a double by Bazile and Eli Booth was walked intentionally to load the bases. Frankl Randol drove home Sieta with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-2 and Colin Roussel singled home Bazile to give the Crusaders a 3-2 lead. Booth then stole home to make it 4-2.

The Crusaders added a run in the bottom of the fourth as pinch-hitter Brenden LeBlanc reached on an error and Bazile singled. Bryce Gauthier was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Booth delivered courtesy runner Gavin Simeon with a deep sacrifice fly to make it 5-2.

Durand got the win, going four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits. Durand walked one and struck out eight. Shannon Martin absorbed the loss for the Purple Knights (14-23).

Brother Martin (24-8) advances to the state semifinals Thursday in Hammond to take on District 9-5A rival and district champion John Curtis Christian. The Crusaders handed the Patriots both of their district losses in the regular season.

FINAL
SA 002 000 0 2 7 2, 12 LOB
BM 103 100 X 2 7 3, 9 LOB
WP—Caden Durand (4-2)
LP—Shannon Martin
SV—Cole Navarro (2)
Time of Game: 2:26
SB—Bryce Robinson
2B—Walker Bazile, Colin Roussel, Howard Bachus