Northlake Christian School continued its march to make a return trip to Bringhurst Park in Alexandria, the site of the 2008 Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class 1A Baseball Playoffs.

The Wolverines (20-6-1), the No. 3 seed, downed the LaSalle Tigers, the No. 14 seed, 9-3, Tuesday with sophomore Bryan Picou getting the victory.

The Wolverines travel to Delhi located near Monroe to battle the Delhi Charter Gators in the quarterfinal round tomorrow at 2 p.m. Delhi Charter defeated Central Catholic, 2-1, in the bi-district and advanced to the quarterfinal game with an 11-3 regional round victory over St. Mary’s.

NCS'€™ Tyler Clark is forced out at home by LaSalle catcher Calin Gould in the third inning of Tuesday'€™s regional round game. The Wolverines won 9-3. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

NCS, the District 7-1A champs, had previously routed Logansport, 19-1, in the bi-district round.

Picou (7-1) went six innings allowing three runs on five hits. He struck out six and walked two. Senior Justin Cromartie relieved Picou pitching the seventh inning after the starter had thrown 98 pitches. Cromartie gave up an infield single, struck out one and walked one to close out the victory.

Picou said his defense made some nice plays.

“My defense played well, and we swung the bats really well. It helps when you put nine on the board. I just had to throw strikes, and let the defense play,” Picou said.

The lefty picked off two base runners to help his own cause. He dusted one at second in the second inning, and one at first base in the third inning.

“When they get far enough off the base, I just do my best, and try to get them,” Picou added.

NCS coach Rowland Skinner said Picou has done what he has all season long by competing.

“He worked ahead in the count, and he just battles out there. I’m very proud of the effort he showed, and the rest of the team behind him,” Skinner said.

“I thought we hit the ball hard, and did a good job of putting pressure on their defense. We had a lot of two-out hits, and were able to score a lot of runs. I thought we had very good approaches at the plate,” Skinner added.

The Wolverines spotted Picou a two-run lead in the bottom of the first. Picou led off reaching on an error against LaSalle junior starter Mathew Devaux (6-4). Austin Prats replaced Picou as a courtesy runner at second. John Farr sacrificed him to third base. Sam Scheibal walked, and Prats scored the first run of the game on Cromartie’s sacrifice fly. Scheibal later raced home on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

NCS increased the lead to 4-0 with two more runs in the second inning. Senior shortstop Jason O’Rear doubled to open the inning. Devaux retired the next two batters before Scheibal, the Wolverines leading hitter at .466, laced an RBI single to right plating O’Rear for a 3-0 lead. Cromartie, hitting .437 third best for the Wolverines, doubled to right scoring Scheibal.

NCS stayed on the attack scratching out a run in the third to build a 5-0 margin. Wolverines’ sophomore catcher Ryan Pfefferle, batting .379, who went 2-for-2 on the day with a walk, beat out an infield single. Tory Marshall replaced him as a courtesy runner. Designated hitter Tyler Clark singled to left. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Taylor Bazzell. O’Rear contributed an RBI bloop single scoring Marshall.

Pfefferle, who has 22 RBIs, said he was glad he was able to drive in some runs.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play. Getting the RBIs was nice to help the team. We need to keep going to achieve our team goal of making it back to Alexandria,” Pfefferle added. The Wolverines lost in last year’s semifinal game so the club has its sights set on returning there.

LaSalle (19-8) made it 5-1 with an unearned run in the top of the fourth. Josh Sims, the Tigers’ starting shortstop, replaced Devaux to open the bottom of the fourth. NCS responded with three runs sending seven batters to the plate.

Cromartie drew a walk, and Zac Hawkins, 2-for-4 with two runs scored hitting .457, ripped a double to right-center field.

Pfefferle plated Cromartie with a single, and was replaced by Marshall at first base.

Clark produced the Wolverines’ seventh run with a first-pitch RBI sacrifice fly to left scoring Hawkins.

Bazzell knocked in the third run of the inning with a single to left scoring Marshall to push the lead to 8-1. LaSalle made some noise in the sixth inning. Nathan Ruddell singled to center field. LaSalle senior catcher Calin Gould, picked up his second hit, when he took a Picou 1-1 pitch to left-center field for a two-run homer to cut the lead to 8-3. Following an error, Picou got the final out of the inning on a nice backhand play by Wolverines’ second baseman Jordy Bloodsworth.

The Wolverines tacked on an insurance run in the sixth with Hawkins reaching on an error by the left fielder as he hustled around to third base.

Pfefferle drove him in with a sacrifice fly.