St. Louis Catholic’s William Millican slides in with the steal of third base as South Beauregard’s Cy Johnson attempts to make the catch on the throw from home Saturday at McNeese State’s Joe Miller Ballpark. (Rick Hickman / American Press)

Senior Aiden Welsh was perfect at the plate Saturday and drove in the go-ahead run as St. Louis Catholic beat South Beauregard 8-3 to tighten its grip on the District 4-3A baseball race.

Welsh went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, one run and a triple. In the bottom of the third inning, he hit a hard grounder up the middle to bring home Blake Evans for a 2-1 lead.

He led off the fifth with a single and scored on Jason Shamsie’s sacrifice fly. He finished with a two-run triple in the sixth inning.

“For the three years I have been here now, he is good to square up a ball every game, hit it hard and give us good at-bats,” St. Louis head coach Matt Fontenot said. “He is a Bossier Parish Community College signee. He consistently hits for us and is a strong part of our order.”

William Millican went 3-for-4 for the Saints with two RBIs and a run.

The defending Division II state champions outhit South Beauregard 11-3 and won for the 10th time in 12 games. The Saints (13-10, 6-0) own a two-game lead on Jennings (9-11, 4-2) and Iowa (14-8, 4-2).

“Overall, I thought we played OK,” Fontenot said. “I think the goal is to always play good baseball regardless of who we are playing.

“We hit well and squared up a lot of baseballs. We had good at-bats. (Thomas) Watson and (James) Reina really pitched and gave us a good chance. I don’t know if it is a good thing or not, but we always schedule tough early with Barbe three times and Sulphur, Sam Houston and Central.

“It really exposes our weaknesses and lets us know where we are at. Ultimately, we just have to play good baseball. That is the goal. I think it is 10 of the last 12 that we have won. It just means we are playing good baseball at the right time.”

Watson got his first start on the mound in more than a month and held the Golden Knights to one run on one hit in 32/3 innings with five strikeouts.

“He is one of our main arms, but he has been battling a hamstring injury,” Fontenot said. “We had him on a pitch count and trying to make sure that he is ready for the postseason for us to make a run.”

Reina closed the game, allowing two runs on two hits in 31/3 innings.

South Beauregard (12-10, 2-4) led 1-0 in the top of the second inning after Laydon Sepulvedo hit a triple and scored on a ground out by Carter Bollich. Sepulvedo went 2-for-3, while scoring twice and adding a triple in the seventh inning.

Jake LaRocca’s RBI triple tied the score in the bottom of the second inning.

Jace Duhon took the loss. He allowed five runs on nine hits in five innings with three strikeouts and three walks.