Brother Martin and Denham Springs traded the lead five times on Monday, but the Crusaders scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to earn a 3-2 win over Denham Springs. With their 16th straight win, the Crusaders (30-5) will face Sam Houston (24-9) in the quarterfinals of the state tournament on Friday at 7:00 pm at Turchin Stadium.
The Denham Springs leadoff hitter started off the game with a double which was followed by a bunt single. With two runners in scoring position and nobody out, Crusader sophomore Corey Gaconi bore down, striking out the next two batters and getting another to pop out to second for the third out of the inning.
The Yellow Jackets broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning. A lead off double followed by a stolen base, and a ground out to third baseman Peyton Senner scored the run giving Denham Springs a 1-0 lead.
The Crusaders tied it up off an RBI single from shortstop Greg Deichmann; however, in the next inning, Denham Springs took the lead again off a solo homerun over the left field fence.
In the bottom of the sixth, Brice Johnston walked and Blake Battle reached base against the Denham Springs starter. On the next play, the second baseman mishandled a routine ground ball that could have led to a double play to end the inning.
Jacob Seward then walked to load the bases. Daniel Lahare came to the plate and reached when the first baseman missed the bag with his foot while attempting to step on the base for the out. The second Yellow Jacket miscue of the inning allowed Brice Johnston to score and tie the game at two. A sacrifice fly by Cody Ducote scored Blake Battle and gave the Crusaders the lead for good.
Gaconi was a workhorse on the mound for the Crusaders. Gaconi pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs, five hits and no walks while striking out three to earn the victory.
Tyler Zamjahn recorded the save for the Crusaders. He pitched one shutout inning in relief. Zamjahn struck out two, walked none and gave up no hits.
