Since winning the Division II state baseball championship last season, St. Louis Catholic has built its pitching depth in hopes of fueling another run to the state tournament in Sulphur.

The second-ranked Saints (21-12) will test that depth in a best-of-three quarterfinals series against No. 10 De La Salle (18-10) starting at 6 p.m. today at McMurry Park.

“The biggest improvement is our depth on the pitcher’s mound,” St. Louis head coach Matt Fontenot said. “Last year we had a handful of guys that we went to quite a bit.

“This year we were able to spread the ball around and put quite a few guys on the mound, guys that we can trust in games. I feel good about where we are at pitching-wise. That gives you some confidence going into a three-game series. We are hoping to move on like everybody else.”

Fontenot said he expects senior Luke Courville to start today and sophomore KeMonni Pullard to take the mound at 6 p.m. Friday. The duo allowed one earned run in the Saints’ sweep of No. 15 Patrick Taylor-Science/Technology Academy last week in the regional round. Pullard is 2-0 in his last two starts, while Courville is 4-1 in his last five.

Fontenot says he has plenty of trusted arms.

“We still have a guy that threw quite a bit for us last year, Blake Evans, who is available, and some all-district guys like Hank Milligan,” Fontenot said. “He is going to be a big part of the three-game series.”

Evans saw action on the mound in the Saints’ title run last season.

“We have some position guys that have given us some quality innings this year,” Fontenot said. “I feel like we have five or six guys that we can trust on the mound to get outs for us, so that is what we are going with.”

That group includes Louisiana-Lafayette signee Ryan Baron, James Reina and Jake Larocca.

The Saints bullpen allowed two earned runs in their last eight innings.

St. Louis has won 14 of its last 16 games and will face a Cavaliers team that has been hot recently, winning 14 of its last 15. De La Salle beat No. 7 E.D. White in three games last week.

“They sound very similar to maybe a South Beauregard,” Fontenot said. “They are really athletic and really scrappy.

“They have a couple of good arms and a decent catcher. They had an up-and-down beginning of the year, and they are on a pretty good win streak. It is obviously scary when you are facing teams like that. We are going to have to play our best to move on.”