Archbishop Hannan’s Hawks energized by a five-run sixth inning turned back the Pope John Paul II Jaguars 10-5 Thursday night at home in a game played at Coquille Sports Complex.

Hannan upped its record to 6-5, while PJP slipped to 1-8 as its defense continued to struggle committing six errors.

Hannan’s victory broke a four-game losing streak in which the Hawks were in games but couldn’t get runs across in key situations stranding too many runners.

Archishop Hannan pitcher Mike Hess tags out Pope John Paul II base runner Alex Ramirez at home plate after he tried to score from third base on a wild pitch during Thursday night’s game played at Coquille Sports Complex. Hannan freshman catcher Dylan Manichia made a nice hustle play getting to the ball at the backstop and relayed a perfect throw to Hess, who applied the tag. Hannan won the game 10-5. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

Hannan junior infielder Stuart Seiler jump-started the Hawks’ offense going 3-4 with a run batted in during the key five-run sixth and scored twice. Seiler said he has been on a roll lately and credited that success to his bat, which he named Alice.

“Alice is my new bat. All of a sudden I wasn’t hitting that well. I’ve never been really a great hitter, but I picked up this bat and I guess it’s given me new confidence. I’ve been on a hitting streak with it and hitting like crazy,” Seiler said.

Seiler said the bat actually belongs to junior teammate Mark Morel.

“With the movie Alice in Wonderland being out, I decided to name the bat Alice, and I’ve been on a hitting streak ever since,” Seiler added.

Seiler said the victory was big because they needed to find a groove again.

“We want to become a top flight team and to do that you have to gell and find a groove. I guess you have to find a bat named Alice and that’s what you have to do,” the junior infielder said.

Hannan coach Boomer Nunez credited Seiler with being a spark down in the order.

“Stuart has been doing a great job for us. He’s the nine-hole hitter. People look at nine-hole hitters as being down in the order, but I look at it as another lead off guy to get on base for the top of the order. He’s been doing a tremendous job, getting on base and moving people over,” Nunez said.

“The players can start believing in themselves again with this victory. We have some really good teams we are playing this weekend in the Abbeville Tournament,” Nunez added.

Hannan tallied a run in the bottom of the first Thursday with senior Logan Booksh drawing a lead off walk off of PJP starter Andre Damiens (1-2) and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Following a strikeout, Hawks’ catcher freshman Dylan Manichia delivered a single to right field plating Booksh for the early lead. Damiens settled himself and struck out the next two Hawks’ batters to strike out the side.

PJP tied things at 1-1 with a run in the top of the second. Tim Turner stroked a single to left off of reliever Roger Tomberlin, who entered the game taking over for starter Christian Clark. Christian Grady also singled and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Jacob Hughes connected for an RBI sacrifice fly scoring Turner. On the play, Grady was tagged out at third after trying to advance and had to come out of the lineup after being tagged and hurt suffering a mild concussion on the play. Tomberlin struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

Hannan strung together four consecutive hits in the second and tallied four runs. Joey LaRocca singled and Tomberlin attempting to sacrifice beat out a bunt for a hit. Hannan’s Clark drilled a two-run double scoring LaRocca and Tomberlin for a 3-1 lead. Seiler followed with a sharp single to right-center field moving Clark to third. Booksh reached on an error by the second baseman scoring Clark. Following a strikeout, Manichia, who drove in three runs, plated Seiler with a ground out to first base to increase the lead to 5-1. Damiens retired the next batter on strikes to end the inning.

PJP battled back with a run in the fourth picking up a run off of Booksh, who had relieved Tomberlin. Damiens reached on an error and Turner moved him up with a single. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. After Booksh recorded a strikeout, Hughes reached on an error plating Damiens with an unearned run to cut the lead to 5-2.

PJP made things interesting in the fifth inning scoring two runs off of reliever Mike Hess, who entered for Booksh. PJP’s Blake Bonnaffons singled to left and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Dustin Dampier singled followed by a walk to Ramirez to load the bases with Jags. The next hitter popped out to first. Turner drew a walk, forcing in Bonnaffons to make it 5-3. Connor Olivier grounded out to third scoring Dampier to trail 5-4. With Hughes at the plate, facing an 0-1 count Hannan’s Hess uncorked a wild pitch that got away from Manichia behind the plate. Ramirez in an aggressive move broke for home, but Manichia pounced on the ball and fired a perfect toss to Hess covering home, who applied the tag. The home plate ump called Ramirez out to end the inning.

Coach Nunez talked about the huge out at home to end PJP’s inning.

“That was huge play. It definitely killed their momentum. We were having trouble throwing strikes. It was a great play by Mike Hess (pitcher) to get there and Dylan (Manichia) behind the plate to pick up the ball and make a good throw to him,” Nunez said.

Nunez said that play helped set the tone for the rest of the game.

PJP II coach Mark Homburg agreed with the importance of the play at the plate.

“We preach before the game being aggressive and Alex (Ramirez) was aggressive. A couple things happened. They fielded the ball cleanly off the wall, they made a perfect throw to the plate and the pitcher was standing right there. If anything is a hair off he’s safe. It was big at that time, but it wouldn’t have mattered because we gave up five runs in the bottom of the sixth,” Homburg said.

“It was a fairly close game, but we kicked the ball around. They swung the bat well and swung the bat better than us. They made more of the plays and deserved to win,” Homburg added.

Hannan put away all doubts with its uprising in the sixth sending 10 hitters to the plate to secure the victory. Seiler opened the inning with a single and after the Hawks batted around he produced a run scoring single in his second plate appearance of the inning, driving in a run. Starting center fielder Andrew Arceneaux, who entered the game to pitch in the sixth and seventh innings, collected an RBI single. Arceneaux (1-0) earned the victory allowing one run on one hit. He struck out four, walked two and hit a batter. With two outs and runners on second and third, Seiler entered the game, relieving Arceneaux. He retired the hitter on a ground ball out to Booksh at second, who made a nice play, charging the ball before relaying to first for the final out to strand the runners. �