SLIDELL — Pine’s Raiders swept Pope John Paul II in a District 9-2A doubleheader, 8-2 and 12-2, on the road Friday.
The Raiders jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opener.
Pine scored the game’s first run in the first inning.
Kendall Sheridan opened the game with a single up the middle and advanced to second on an error. Kaden Fersch’s groundout to second moved Sheridan to third and he scored on an error to make it 1-0.
The Raiders put up four runs in the third inning.
It began with Kendall Sheridan getting hit by a pitch. Fersch recorded an infield single and both runners advanced on Coby Sheridan’s sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Fersch scored on a wild pitch and Kendall Sheridan tallied on an error from the wild pitch and the Raiders led 3-0. Will Adams restarted the rally by drawing a walk. Adams stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring the fourth run on Chase Cooper’s RBI single. Ian Turner walked and Zack LeMaire reached on an error to load the bases. Logan Temples drew a walk to plate Cooper and Pine was up 5-0 through three innings.
Pope John Paul II trimmed the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the frame.
With one out, Brady Pisciotta and Eddie Dema both singled. Mason Isabelle’s RBI double sent Pisciotta home to make it 5-1 and Dema scored on a wild pitch that allowed Isabelle to score and it was 5-2 after three.
Pine came right back in the fourth with three more runs.
Fersch walked. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Coby Sheridan tallied a sacrifice fly for a 6-2 lead. Luke Fonda reached on an error. After the first out, Cooper plated courtesy runner Karson Voth with an RBI single. Turner walked and LeMaire was hit. Temples drove LeMaire home with a run-scoring infield single and Pine had an 8-2 lead after four innings.
That was plenty for Fonda, who was solid on the mound. Fonda limited the damage through second- and third-inning jams. Pope John Paul II loaded the bases with nobody out in the second and had runners at first-and-second with one out in the third.
In the second, he struck out two straight hitters and then got a fly out to left to end the second inning un-scored upon. He got through the third by only allowing the two runs to tally. Fonda allowed four base runners over the next three innings to complete a six-inning performance where he allowed two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and four walks.
Adams pitched a perfect seventh to cap off the 8-2 win.
Kendall Sheridan singled, got hit and scored both times.
Fersch singled, walked and scored both times.
Coby Sheridan reached on a fielder’s choice error and recorded a sacrifice fly.
Voth scored a run.
Adams walked and scored.
Cooper singled twice, walked, drove in two runs and scored two runs.
Turner walked twice.
LeMaire walked and got hit.
Temples singled, walked and drove in two runs.
Pope John Paul II’s Pisciotta singled and scored.
Dema singled, walked and scored.
Isabelle doubled, walked twice and drove in a run
Tommy Bryars walked.
Jack Millett, Jacob Hutter and Erik Schneider all singled.
The second game was a 12-2 Pine five-inning victory.
The Raiders jumped out to a 7-0 lead through an inning and a half and it was 7-2 after two.
Kendall Sheridan recorded three hits — all doubles — with three runs batted in and three runs scored.
Adams went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
Fonda singled twice, scored two runs and had an RBI.
Fersch doubled, scored twice and drove in a run.
LeMaire singled and scored two runs.
Temples doubled and tallied a run.
Dallen Magee singled and drove in a run.
Cooper singled.
Blaine Polk tallied a run.
Cooper allowed two unearned run on the hill over four innings. Cooper gave up just three hits and he recorded two strikeouts and two walks.
Magee pitched a perfect fifth with a strikeout.
Pine coach Blake Dillon said he was happy with how his team showed up on Friday.
“We had a tough week,” Dillon said. “We overcame some adversity — put our minds to nothing but baseball and played like the team I know we can be. I try to teach our guys that we have be able to control our emotions and come out and give our best effort and have our best attitudes everyday.
“Baseball can be an up-and-down game and can really affect young players mentally. Slumps happen, errors happen, bad outings on the mound happen, bad breaks and bad calls are a part of the game, but the players that can overcome that, the ones that can move on to the next pitch, the next play, the next at-bat and the next day, are the players that are going to succeed most often and have the most fun doing it.
“That’s how we showed up today, ready to play having a common goal in mind and having fun doing it. We had some key defensive plays that helped us get out of some tough situations. Our pitchers showed grit and we had the key hits in clutch situations. It’s exciting knowing the team we have and things we are capable of with the second half of district remaining.”