WAITING FOR THE CALL— Hammond's Chris Moran, left, and Pevey Realtors' Elisha Settoon look for the call at second after Moran tagged Settoon in the in the bottom of the third inning. Settoon was called out, but Pevey still rolled to a 9-0 victory. Fred Batiste/Daily Star

The posse chasing Loranger's Piggly Wiggly American Legion team is still in hot pursuit in the Sixth District East's West Division - but it's falling farther behind in the dust.

On Tuesday night, Loranger generated just enough offense in a four-run fifth inning - Piggly Wiggly's lone RBI hit was an infield single - to thwart Peake BMW (St. Paul's) 5-4 and clinch at least a share of the division title.

Steven Mercier and Taylor Abdalla combined on a three-hitter at Loranger (7-1) took a two-game lead over Peake BMW (5-3) with two to play. The victory was the seventh in a row for Loranger - a run reminiscent of the Loranger High team that went unbeaten through District 10-3A.

"They know what has to be done in order to win," Piggly Wiggly coach Jason Helmstetter said. "I think that taste (of going unbeaten in district) right there is helping them out a little bit."

Meanwhile, Pevey Realtors (5-3) moved into a tie for second with Peake by capitalizing on three Hammond errors while Elisha Settoon pitched a six-inning, two-hitter as Ponchatoula blanked Hammond 9-0.

"We made some nice plays tonight," Pevey coach Mark Gosnell said. "When we get a good-pitched ball game on the mound, we're pretty tough to beat right now. It all starts on the mound, and Elisha did the job for us tonight."

Hammond (0-8) coach Steve Labbe offered a simple explanation to the game.

"They hit the ball, and we didn't," he said.

Piggly Wiggly plays at Hammond Thursday at 6 p.m. in the division's only game, then closes the Lion season next Tuesday at LLOG Exploration (Mandeville). Pevey is idle until Tuesday when it hits the road to face Covington Post 16.

"This one clinches a tie," Helmstetter said. "Anything can happen, but it's not a bad situation. Being our first year in this, I'm pleased."

Piggly Wiggly 5, Peake BMW 5

AMITE-All the action came in the last three innings, starting with Piggly Wiggly breaking a 0-0 tie with a four-run fifth. Loranger capitalized when Peake BMW reliever Jay Duet walked three batters in a row.

Trent Cutt started the inning by reach on an infield single, Anthony Smith sacrificed him to second, Bryce Himel singled and Mercier walked to load the bases. Duet then walked Taylor Abdalla to force in one run and walked Tyler Kendrick to plate another to make it 2-0.

That was all for Duet, but Peake reliever Jared Robicheaux promptly hit Kyle Wheeler with a pitch to make it 3-0, then Jake Artigue beat out an RBI infield single to make it 4-0. St. Paul's avoided further trouble by inducing an inning-ending double play.

"Just to be pesky and not quit with the bases loaded," Helmstetter said of the keys to the inning. "We had some good at-bats. We had a good eye at the plate which allowed us to get two runs off of walks."

Loranger plated an insurance run in the sixth when Anthony Smith reached on an error and scored on Mercier's RBI double to make it 5-0.

And Piggly Wiggly needed all of it was Abdalla came on in relief in the seventh and loaded the bases with nobody out on two walks and a hit batter.

After a strikeout, Nick Hummel drove in Peake BMW's first run with an RBI ground out, then Abdalla's throwing error on a routine comebacker to the mound turned what would have been the final out into a 5-3 game with the tying run coming to the plate. But Abdalla got an infield grounder to end it.

Mercier got the win with six innings of two-hit, shutout ball. He walked three and struck out five while going 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored at the plate. Jake Artigue went 2-for-3 for Loranger.

-Reported by John Lenz

Pevey Realtors 9, Hammond 0

PONCHATOULA - Pevey got going right from the top as Dylan Meyers doubled off Hammond starter Trevor Ragan and scored as Elisha Settoon reached second on a throwing error. Laramie Pittman singled and Settoon scored on a fielder's choice. Pittman then scored on Kaleb Kraft's sacrifice fly to give Pevey a 3-0 lead at the end of one.

Pevey jumped back on the sticks in the second as Ethan Murray singled, Meyers walked and Settoon reached on an error to load the bases. Murray scored on a wild pitch, and Pittman drove in Meyers and Settoon with a bases-clearing triple to center to make it 6-0.

"We had some hits, and they helped us out with a couple of errors there early in the game," Gosnell said."

Lucas Quebedeaux came on in relief and Pittman scored on an RBI fielder's choice to make it 7-0 after two innings.

Hammond threatened in the top of the third as Josh Byars reached on a one-out error, Quebedeaux walked and Chris Moran's infield single loaded the bases. But Settoon got Morgan Payne to foul out to the catcher and Eric Rose to fly out to center to end the threat.

"We got a big lead, and we were able to relax a little bit," Gosnell said. "That one inning where they got the bases loaded, Elisha made some great pitches to get out of it."

Pevey scored in the fourth when Pittman reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch, then Pevey picked up its final run in the bottom of the fifth as Pittman singled in Meyers.

-Reported by Fred Batiste