The Louisiana Knights 18s had a successful Tulane Invitational winning four out of five games played led by the hot bat of Garrett Cannizaro (.373), who went 6-11 with a homer and five doubles, while driving in six runs. He also walked twice.

Chad Livingston (.349) made a strong contribution, going 4-11 with six runs batted, ripping four doubles. Brandon Boudreaux (.422) went 5-15 with a triple and a double and four runs batted in. He also drew two walks. Chad Gough-Fortenberry (.529) delivered four hits in six at bats with three runs batted in to help spark the Knights’ hitting attack.

The Knights 18s (23-2) dropped Wednesday’s first game, falling to the East Cobb Yankees 3-1 as the Knights were limited to three hits. Starter Sean Kennel (2-1) suffered his first loss of the summer, going five innings. He gave up three earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Jordan Rittiner pitched one inning of relief, allowing one hit with two strikeouts. Zac Hawkins (.359) had a double and scored the Knights lone run. Livingston doubled and Boudreaux had a single to account for the Knights’ three hits.

Head coach Chris Pool said Kennel pitched well just making a couple mistakes, which they took advantage of. “It was a well played defensive game, which featured two talented teams. It was a fun game for the fans to watch, unfortunately we came up just short,” Pool said.

Pool said the Knights played well in the tournament getting a good combination of timely hitting and solid pitching.

“Our pitchers did a good job with location, keeping hitters off balance. Our hitters were able to find the gaps, which produced runs,” Pool added.

The Knights 18s battled back to take Thursday’s game, defeating the Marucci Broncos 8-5 with Boudreaux going 2-3 with a double and a triple, while driving in three runs. Cannizaro delivered two doubles with an RBI and scored twice. Livingston drove in a run and scored once. Nathan Fury collected a hit, drove in a run and scored once. Hawkins doubled and scored, while Cory Thomas chipped in with a double.

David Napoli started and went four innings being replaced by Jason Greenleaf, who picked up the victory in relief. He went two innings without giving up any earned runs on two hits with three strikeouts.

The Knights 18s bombed the Bayside Yankees 15-0 in five innings Friday on the strength of Cannizaro’s 3-4 performance with a homer, two doubles and four runs batted in and Fury (3-0) collected his second complete game victory on a two-hitter. Fury’s earned run average is 1.40.

Livingston went 2-3 with two doubles, three runs batted in and scored twice for the Knights. Bryan Picou had a triple and drove home two runs with a run scored.

Gough-Fortenberry chipped in with two runs batted in and scored twice, while Brady King contributed a hit, drove in a run and scored once. James Winget went 2-3 and tallied twice.

The Knights 18s registered victory three on Saturday, edging the Dallas Mustangs 4-3, making the most of five hits. Winget went 2-2 with two runs batted in and scored once. Boudreaux had a hit and drove in a run, while James Abraham walked twice with a run batted in for the Knights.

Gough-Fortenberry produced the Knights’ other two hits. Greenleaf, who started and went five innings, picked up his second victory of the tournament to move to 4-0 with a 1.07 earned run average. He gave up one earned run, scattering seven hits. Hawkins pitched two innings of relief to earn his second save of the summer, while sporting a 1.38 ERA.

The Knights 18s closed out the Tulane Invitational Sunday, slipping past the Marucci Elite 17s 8-6 with Hawkins driving in two runs. Abraham, Cannizaro, Gough-Fortenberry, Fury, Livingston and Picou drove in one run each to help propel the Knights to victory. Starter Wes Rea moved to 3-0 with a 0.50 ERA, going four innings. He gave up one earned run on just two hits. Picou pitched two innings of relief to notch the save, his second of the summer.

The Knights 18s return to action tonight in New Iberia for game one of the Louisiana World Series at Acadian Ballpark. The first pitch is slated for 5:30 against Bullet Baseball 18’s.