• St. Aloysius returned more letterman than any of the other seven teams in the league. The only position that would not be manned by a monogram winner was catcher where Jim Carroll would try to fill the big shoes of Ray King, the top hitter on the Aloysius team that won the All-American Amateur Baseball Association championship in Johnstown PA in the summer of 1948.
• The schedule called for the eight teams to play a round-robin round, then a championship round involving the top four clubs. Round One games would be seven games while the championship round contests would expand to nine innings.
• All games would be played at Muny Park (later Larry Gilbert Park) behind the Sealtest dairy on Carrollton Avenue. Day-night doubleheaders were set for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with the intervening days used to make up rained out contests.

Altobello's starting lineup looked like this.

After rain postponed the opener with Nicholls, Aloysius began league play with a night game against Holy Cross Wednesday, April 13 - a late starting date compared to today's district play.

• Righthander Huey Bridges was masterful for six innings before tiring in the 7th. Fortunately, the Saints had built up a 5-1 lead and survived the Tigers' two-run final inning rally.
• The HC starter Mac Oakes, from Brooklyn, got himself in trouble in the very first inning by walking the first three men to face him. But it looked like he'd extricate himself from the jam when SS Al Lichtenstein hit a short fly and Bridges fanned. But Virgil Rodriguez singled sharply to score Gerry Zimmerman and Jerry Peltier. Pascal Calogero followed with another hit to plate two more runners.
• Given a cushion, Bridges allowed only one run until the 7th. The fireworks started with one out. After a single, Larry Emboulas hit a sinking liner that CF Rodriguez trapped but managed to throw to 2nd in time to force the runner. That play loomed large when another single and a base on balls filled the sacks. A walk and hit batter forced in two runs before Bridges got a groundout to end the game.
• In all, Huey struck out 15 Tigers.

Next came the rescheduled Nicholls game Saturday afternoon, April 17.

• The Rebels proved to be an easy mark, falling 10-1 as the Crusaders unleashed a 15-hit attack.
• Sophomore RF Chris Ansel led the onslaught, going 3-for-3 with a double. Lichtenstein banged a single and a double while Rodriguez clouted a two-run homer.
• Joe Lacoste coasted to the victory, giving up just five hits while whiffing 13.

The third league game two nights later proved to be much more exciting than the first two.

• Trailing Jesuit 2-1 heading into the bottom of the 7th, the Crimson Knights plated two to pull out the victory.
• Bridges was wild and in trouble almost every inning. The Jays pushed across a run in the 2nd, but the Crusaders tied the game in the 3rd.
• The Blue Jays regained the lead in the 6th on a triple and a groundout. Lichtenstein led off the bottom of the inning with a double but went no further.
• The winning rally began with C Jim Carroll doubling - just the 3rd hit for SA off Richard Villarubia. Batting for junior CF Ray Lamy, Zimmerman laid down a bunt. Villarubia stumbled as he fielded the ball but threw to 3rd too late to get Carroll on a close play that brought a protest from Jesuit Coach Gernon Brown.
• Some of the steam was taken out of the comeback when Calogero's grounder led to Carroll being thrown out at the plate. But Peltier belted a double to score the tying run. Then Francis Segrave's single decided the pitching duel in favor of the Crusaders.

Johnny Altobello

Jim Carroll

Hewitt Bridges

Virgil Rodriguez

Jerry Peltier

Jim Christiansen

Joe Lacoste

Dickie Brennan

Chris Ansel

Bob Ponti

• After rain postponed the game against Redemptorist two days, Aloysius scored six in the 3rd and held on behind Virgil Rodriguez and Joe Lacoste to win 6-4.
• Rodriguez helped his own cause in the big inning by clouting a two-run homer. Junior 3B Jim Christiansen had two of the Knights' five hits, a double and a single. 1B Dickie Brennan smacked a triple.
• Virgil gave up only two hits but walked seven. Lacoste got the last three outs after the Rams plated two in the 7th.

The Fortier Tarpons tried their hand at derailing the Crusader Express in an afternoon game Monday, April 25.

• Altobello's boys got off to a good start with two in the bottom of the 1st.
• Wildness by the Fortier starter Earl Ferguson contributed to the scoring. He walked seven in six innings.
• The Tarps scored off Lacoste in the 5th, but the Crimson matched that with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame to win 3-1.
• RF Chris Ansel went two-for-two, and SS Al Lichtenstein drove home two. CF Huey Bridges knocked home the other tally.

Another rainout postponed the Easton game, and the Crusaders suffered their first defeat when it was played.

• Three Crimson hurlers walked an amazing 16 batters as the Eagles romped, 20-6. Six errors contributed to the rampage.
• After three and a half innings, the score was 9-0.
• Lacoste lasted only 3 2/3 innings, giving up 10 runs on only three hits.
• Rodriguez threw 2 1/3, surrendering seven runs on just four hits.
• Bob Ponti finished up and allowed three in the 7th.
• Lacoste led the SA batters with two hits, including a double.
• Star HB Les Kennedy went the distance for Easton.

With their lead reduced to a half game, the Crusaders needed a good performance on the hill.

• Bridges threw a four-hit shutout against Peters.
• He also went 2-for-3 and drove in both runs, one in the 4th and the other in the 6th.
• The only other Sader hit came from Lichtenstein.
• Incredibly, lefty Larry Lassalle of Peters took the loss despite striking out 19 in a losing effort.

L-R: Jesuit P Moon Landrieu, N.O. Pelicans manager Jimmy Brown, and Peters P Larry Lassalle

The victory clinched a tie for first for Aloysius with Holy Cross heading into the championship round.

• The number of teams in the round was up in the air because of a protest from the Fortier-Peters game.
• Easton, Fortier, and Jesuit deadlocked for third place pending the ruling of the committee appointed to settle the protest.
• Records from the first round carried over into the championship round.

• The playoff was supposed to involve the top four teams.
• However, three teams tied for 3rd with the Peters-Easton result up in the air because of a protest.
• Ultimately, the district disallowed the protest and let all five teams participate.

Aloysius started with an afternoon game at Muny Park Wednesday, May 11 against Warren Easton, the only team to defeat the Knights in a 20-6 embarrassment twelve days earlier.

• The Eagles' star RB from the gridiron, Les Kennedy, started on the hill and whitewashed the Saders the first three innings while C Jules Ursin's homer provided a 2-0 lead heading into the top of the 4th.
• However, Aloysius ralled for four runs, starting with Al Lichtenstein's round-tripper. The hard-hitting SS added a double and triple in six trips to the plate.
• 2B Pascal Calogero, 3B Jerry Peltier, and LF Ray Lamy contributed two hits each to the 11-3 triumph.
• Huey Bridges went the distance, giving up seven hits and struck out eight.

The Crimson Knights had to come back the next night against Fortier.

• Aloysius again fell behind when the Tarpons scored two in the bottom of the 1st off J. C. Lacoste. Coach Johnny Altobello brought in Bridges from the out­field to get out of a bases loaded jam with two outs.
• Lacoste returned to the mound for the 2nd and pitched through the 5th. Mean­while, right-handed speed baller Pee Wee Ferguson held the Crusaders at bay until the 6th when SA finally sent home a run.
• Peltier singled in what proved to be the winning run in the 8th when the Saints forged ahead with four runs to cop the 5-2 victory.
• Despite hurling nine frames the day before, Bridges pitched the last four inn­ings to gain his second straight W as the Tarps garnered only five hits.

Aloysius was now the only undefeated team among the playoff contenders. But that wouldn't last long.

• After four days off, the Crusaders returned to action against Jesuit in an af­ternoon game with a chance to clinch the championship with one game left.
• For a change, SA scored first, capitalizing on wildness by Jack Campione, who started only one previous game. CF Chris Ansel drove in the run with a single.
• Bridges made the 1-0 lead hold up until the 8th when the Blue Jays tied the game.
• Campione completed a totally unexpected two-hitter in the top of the 9th, the other safety being a double by Lichtenstein in the 8th.
• Pat Browne's single, Jesuit's fourth hit, drove home the winning run in the bot­tom of the inning.

Next came an interruption that seems incomprehensible from our viewpoint in the 21st century.

• The New Orleans city playoff was interrupted so that all five teams could parti­cipate in the State Rally at Baton Rouge.
• Aloysius would play the Bogalusa Lumberjacks at 1 PM Thursday, May 19 at LSU's Alex Box Stadium.

Les Kennedy

Pascal Calogero

Johnny Altobello

Al Lichtenstein

Huey Bridges

Joe Lacoste

Robert Abadie

• The St. Aloysius Crusaders took the field at 1 PM against the Bogalusa Lumberjacks at Alex Box Stadium at LSU.
• Fortier, Holy Cross, Jesuit, and Warren Easton also represented the New Orleans Prep League in the 16-team AA bracket.

Aloysius started scoring in the top of the 1st and didn't stop until the game was called after five innings with the Crusaders on top 14-0.

• Benefitting from ten walks, the Knights needed only eight hits as they scored in every inning.
• 3B Jerry Peltier and SS Al Lichtenstein banged two hits apiece, Jerry's including a homer and Al's, a triple.
• Ace Huey Bridges started on the mound but was pulled after two perfect innings with a 7-0 lead to save him for the next day.
• Joe LaCoste, Virgil Rodriguez, and Bob Abadie threw one inning each.

Jerry Peltier tags out Gary Levert of Bogalusa as he attempted
to go from 2nd to 3rd on an outfield fly at Alex Box Stadium at LSU.
(Advocate photo)

• The Tarpons jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning, knocking Lacoste out of the box after only 2/3 of an inning.
• But the Crusaders plated one in the 3rd and exploded for six in the 4th to take the lead.
• But Fortier came right back against Bridges and tied the game at 7 in the bottom of the 4th.
• The deadlock continued until the top of the 6th when Aloysius plated four.
• That was enough for Huey to seal the 11-7 seven-inning triumph.
• Lichtenstein cracked three of SA's 14 hits. Peltier, 1B Dick Brennan, Peltier, Bridges, RF Chris Ansel, and C Jim Carroll contributed two safeties each. Both Carroll's hits were doubles while Brennan and Ansel belted triples.

The victory propelled the Crusaders into a semifinal game against Lutcher Saturday morning at 11 a.m.

• Altobello started Rodriguez, who gave up one run in two innings before switching to CF and letting Lacoste take over. Joe shut out the Bulldogs the rest of the way.
• In the meantime, Aloysius broke the ice with 3 in the 3rd, 2 in the 4th, and 1 in the 6th.
• Rodriguez had two singles, and Peltier, Ansel, and Lacoste knocked doubles.

Jesuit belted Easton 11-3 in the other semifinal to set up a Crimson-Blue final Sunday afternoon.

• The Saturday night, May 21 clash was for the state championship against the Jesuit Blue Jays.
• It proved to be perhaps the most incredible baseball game in St. Aloysius history.

Coach Johnny Altobello sent his ace Huey Bridges to the hill for the seven-inning tilt.

• Johnny had pulled Bridges after just two innings in Thursday's first round 14-0 romp over Bogalusa.
• The junior righthander was on his game, allowing only two runs in eight innings.
• But Jack Campione did the job for Gernon Brown's Blue Jays. The Saints got to him for a run in the 1st when 3B Jerry Peltier dribbled a single down the 3B line. 1B Dick Brennan's single to LF was followed by consecutive free passes to SS Al Lichtenstein and Bridges to force home the run.
• The righty settled down after and didn't allow another hit through the 6th.
• Meanwhile, the Jays tied the game on Milt Retif's clout over the CF fence in the 5th and took the lead 2-1 in the top of the 7th on Retif's single that scored Campione.
• Jack retired the first two hitters, but Peltier slashed his second triple of the evening deep into RF that might have been an inside-the-park homer had not the 3B coach held him up. But on the second pitch to Brennan, Jerry stole home easily to tie the game.

After neither side scored in the 8th, Jesuit took control with a four-run outburst in the top of the 9th.

• Campione started the uprising with a single to CF and went to 2nd when the ball got past Virgil Rodriguez.
• Leo Ayers' single put the Jays ahead before Chet Hingle flew to CF for the first out.
• Peltier muffed Retif's grounder to 3rd, Ayers scoring on the play.
• Retif promptly stole 2nd, his second theft of the game.
• Jim Nissel whaled the cover off a Bridges pitch for a triple. When Lichten­stein's throw bounced away, Nissel continued home.
• Altobello brought in Jay Lacoste to retire the side, but the Blue Jays threatened to score some more on the hurler who had thrown five innings in the semifinal that morning.
• Two free passes around a single by Carlo Leiva loaded the sacks.
• But Campione, who had started the inning, popped up. Failing to drive home more insurance runs didn't seem important at the time but would loom large a few minutes later.

Trailing 6-2 with only three outs left, the Knights needed base runners. Fortunate­ly, the Jesuit hurler ran out of gas.

• He walked Jim Carroll, Gerry Zimmerman (batting for Ray Lamy), and Pel­tier to fill the bases with two outs.
• With the Crusaders down to their last out, Lichtenstein drove a single into LF to score two and cut the deficit in half.
• When Lacoste walked to reload the sacks, Brown brought in Richard Villa­rubia to try to seal the deal.
• Rodriguez greeted the reliever with a base hit to CF that brought home the tying runs.
• With the winning duck on the pond, Chris Ansel flew out to send the game into extra innings.

• With one out, Hingle's twisting grounder got through both 1B Brennan and RF Zimmerman for two bases on two errors.
• Retif's ground out sent Hingle to 3rd.
• When Lacoste hesitated while pitching to the next batter, the umpires call­ed a balk that plated the runner.
• Nissel walked, but Cliff Cantino popped out.

Trailing once again heading into their last at-bats, the Crusaders needed another comeback.

• C Jim Carroll beat out a slow roller to SS.
• Zimmerman bunted near the pitcher's box and beat the throw to 1st to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.
• Villarubia fielded "Nunny" Calogero's grounder to the mound and tried for the force at 3rd. But Carroll beat the throw to load the bases with no one out.
• Could Peltier do it again? Jerry hit a fly to RF that Hingle failed to catch. Carroll and Zimmerman raced home on the two-bagger to bring the state championship trophy to 1137 Esplanade Avenue for the first time!

The victory extended the streak of baseball titles by New Orleans schools that began in 1931.

Baton Rouge Morning Advocate writer Ralph Brewer started his report this way: New Orleans' St. Aloysius Crusaders took advantage of every break of the game last night at Alex Box stadium to capture the Class AAA state high school baseball crown, climaxing three days of competition that could certainly match college and professional ball in interest, spirt, and determination.

But the baseball season was not over. There was still matter of the New Orleans Prep Championship to settle.

Huey Bridges

Jerry Peltier

Dick Brennan

Al Lichtenstein

Milt Retif as Tulane's baseball coach

Joe Lacoste

Ray Lamy

Pascal Calogero

• Johnny Altobello's Knights could win the school's first prep league baseball crown by defeating the Holy Cross Tigers Wednesday night, May 25, at Muny Park.
• The game followed the afternoon contest between Jesuit and Fortier as the four teams completed the post-season playoff after finishing at the top of the local round-robin round.
• The Crusaders had actually clinched at least a tie for the prep title as the only undefeated team among the four. But the Tigers could be co-champions with a victory.
• Both Altobello and Coach Celeste Taylor of Holy Cross went with their aces, Huey Bridges and Donald Hecker, respectively.
• Aloysius had won the only previous meeting between the squads 5-3 in the first game of the prep league season April 13.
• The Crusaders hoped to add the city and state baseball crowns to the same ones they won under Altobello in basketball.

Anyone who thought the Crimson Knights would suffer a letdown after winning state was sadly disappointed.

• Before a "fine crowd," Aloysius broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 3rd on a single by LF Ray Lamy and a double by 2B Pascal Calogero.
• With Bridges continuing to mow down the Tigers, the Crusaders doubled their lead in the 4th when LF Lloyd Domecq dropped Huey's fly, allowing the batter to reach 2nd. He then scored when 2B Francis Segrave let a grounder get through him.
• Two more runs crossed the plate in the 5th. (How they scored is impossible to determine since TP writer N. Charles Wicker's article is totally confusing. For example, he has a runner scoring on a hit by someone who batted ahead of him, not behind him.)
• Bridges didn't need any more runs, but SA poured it on with three in the 8th. A walk to SS Al Lichtenstein and Bridges' double, his third hit of the evening, produced the first run. Virgil Rodriguez also smacked a two-bagger to send Bridges home with his third run of the game. An error by C Bobby Howard allowed Rodriguez to score the 7th and final run.
• Huey ended with a three-hitter, all singles. He fanned nine in shutting out HC.

With Bridges and Joe Lacoste both graduating, Altobello would have to rebuild his pitching staff for the 1950 season.