REPLAY: John Curtis uses long ball, short game to down Rummel

METAIRIE – It was a clinic, of sorts, in the long and the short of things.

John Curtis Christian blasted three home runs, had a base-clearing double and executed four outstanding bunts, including three sacrifice bunts and one for a single.

The end result was an 8-6 victory over Archbishop Rummel in the first game of a two-game series in a game aired live on NASH ICON 106.1 FM and CrescentCitySports.com.

Mississippi State signee Michael O’Brien put on a show. O’Brien pitched five strong innings, allowing just one run on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

At the plate, O’Brien belted a pair of home runs, singled and drove in three runs while scoring twice.

“I was just trying to throw strikes, fill the zone,” O’Brien said. “The more I found the zone, the more I knew they were going to make plays behind me. I believe both home runs came on 2-0 counts. He just elevated a fastball, I saw it well, put a good swing on it and it paid off.”

After establishing a 7-1 lead, the Patriots survived a late rally by the Raiders to secure the win.

Rummel scored a run in the top of the first without the benefit of a hit.

O’Brien walked three straight batters with one out and Central Alabama Brock Bullinger plated LSU commit Mikey Ryan, who walked, on a groundout to third and it was 1-0.

The Patriots got even in the bottom of the third as O’Brien blasted a long home run to right to make it 1-1.

John Curtis exploded with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a base-clearing double by Cyris McClinton and a two-un homer by O’Brien to make it 6-1.

Andrew Martinez, who is heading to Lafayette to be part of the University of Louisiana football program, homered to right to start the bottom of the fifth inning.

Rummel (17-14, 6-5) rallied in the sixth on three walks, a two-run double by Tulane commit Giancarlo Arencibia and an RBI single by Tulane commit Evan Burg made it 7-4. Ryan walked to load the bases but Alex Lagasse got Rhett Centanni to pop out to short to end the threat.

The Patriots (18-8-1, 8-3) got the run back in the bottom of the sixth on a leadoff walk, a bunt single by O’Brien, a sacrifice bunt by Dagan Bruno and a sacrifice fly by Delgado commit Josh Eames to make it 8-4.

The Raiders made it interesting in the top of the seventh with a single by Nix, an error and a walk to load the bases. Austin Ackel came in and allowed an RBI fielder’s choice groundout by Lenny Cline, got the second out and the game ended as Cline was picked off of first as Ackel got the save.

McClinton had a pair of doubles with three RBI.

“Another classic, I would like to finish it a little bit cleaner, obviously,” Patriots coach Jeff Curtis said. “Tip your hat to them for battling back. Good job by our senior, Austin Ackel to come in there at the end and doing what he had to do. Once Michael settled in, he was fine. We did a really good job of executing.”

Nix had two hits and walked twice for Rummel while Burg had two hits.

Bullinger took the loss, going the distance, allowing eight runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts. The Raiders are struggling, having lost five straight.

The same two teams will meet Friday night at 7 p.m. at Mike Miley Stadium.

FINAL
RUM 100 003 2 — 6 6 2, 8 LOB
JC 001 511 X — 8 7 1, 5 LOB
WP—Michael O’Brien (4-1)
LP—Brock Bullinger (4-4)
SV—Austin Ackel (3)
Time of Game: 2:30
SB—Mikey Ryan-2, Josh Eames
2B—Gavin Nix, Syric McClinton-2
HR—Michael O’Brien-2 (5)