JPSO: Father apparently kills teen son, then self

Saturday, May 25, 2013

RIVER RIDGE, La. (AP) - Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies say a 52-year-old man apparently shot his 16-year-old son in the head and then turned the gun on himself in their home in River Ridge.

Authorities found both bodies in the home Friday after the boy's mother called 911 asking the sheriff's office to check the residence because she had not heard from her son in a while.

The Times-Picayune reports (http://bit.ly/18d0kRJ ) deputies entered the home through an unlocked front door and found the man's body on the living room floor. Sheriff's spokesman, Col. John Fortunato, says a semiautomatic pistol lay next to him. He was shot in the head.

Deputies searched the home and found the teenager's body in a bedroom. Parish coroner's office investigators determined the teen also was shot in the head.

After voucher ruling, online course plan pared

Saturday, May 25, 2013

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A state program to offer public school students online courses provided by colleges or private companies is being scaled back.

The "Course Choice" online program was approved last year as part of the legislation that expanded the state's voucher program, which pays private school tuition for some students from poorly performing public schools.

But a recent Supreme Court decision said the voucher program, including the online Course Choice plan, was unconstitutionally funded through a formula meant for public schools alone.

Education Superintendent John White said Friday the online course program will be limited and it will be funded with money already available in the Education department.

Family Survives Second House Fire in Five Years

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Imagine having to rebuild your life and home after two fires, in less than five years. A family in Breaux Bridge will have to do just that after they found out their home had caught fire. The family's home caught fire Friday afternoon. "I just went through a house fire 5 years ago. Now I'm going through it again. I have to start all over again, this is hard," says Nara Batiste.

Batiste was working when she found out. "I dropped to the floor because I didn't really know what was really going on, and then we rushed from work and came here," says Batiste.

There was nothing she could do, but watch as everything she owns was destroyed for the second time. "My daughter was just crying, crying, crying. They was like we're homeless; basically we are, we are." Walking around seeing what's left, reminds her of the nightmares 5 years ago.
"We was sleeping, that was at 2 in the morning. Basically I got up and the house was on fire; my mom, my sister, and my daughter all died."

Batiste says she just started to accept what happened, but now she has only memories of her home, and she'll have to start the grieving process all over again. "Honestly I can't tell you what's next, I don't know. Most likely the first thing is just to pray that every thing's going to get better, says Batiste.

The family says the fire was a complete lost, and are asking for the communities support. Batiste is mainly looking for clothes for her and her four children: DonAsia-10yrs(daughter)-(top & bottom size 10), Dylan-9yrs(size 7), Tylan-6yrs(size 6), and Brennan-5yrs(size 5). Mother(medium shirt/bottom 13). There's also been an account set up for the family by a family friend to help buy their basic necessities: Savings Account is through Chase Bank(account holder name is Narra Batiste)

Akeam@katctv.com

Tournament Domination Continues, UL Advances to Finals

Saturday, May 25, 2013

LAFAYETTE - The Ragin' Cajuns baseball team advanced to Championship Sunday in the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Tournament at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field with a 12-2 run-rule victory over South Alabama in a bracket final contest here Saturday afternoon.

Louisiana (41-17) scored multiple runs in four of the first five innings in cruising past the Jaguars (42-18). A Cajuns pitcher recorded a complete game effort a second straight day as Ryan Wilson tossed all seven innings.

The victory sets up a matchup with Florida Atlantic (38-20) at 1 p.m. on Sunday for the tournament championship. The game will be broadcast live by the Sun Belt Network which will air on CSS/CST.

It will be Louisiana's first appearance in the title game since the 2007 event at Eddie Stanky Field in Mobile. The Cajuns will attempt to win the SBC Tournament for the first time since 1998 - the first and only time UL won the league's postseason event since joining the league in 1992.

The bottom of the Cajuns lineup produced the bulk of the damage. Michael Strentz, Blake Trahan and Chase Compton, hitting 7-8-9, combined to go 6-for-8 with seven runs scored and six RBI.

Dex Kjerstad picked up his 29th multiple-hit game and 16th with at least three hits finishing 3-for-4. Seth Harrison launched the team's 70th home run of the season in the first inning.

Wilson limited the Jaguars to four hits and struck out six. It was the second straight day that a UL pitcher limited USA to exactly four hits.

Louisiana produced nine-plus runs and double digit hits for the third straight game in the SBC Tournament. Through three games the Cajuns offense has produced 30 runs off 38 hits.

Harrison's home run came just three batters into the contest and staked the tournament hosts to a 2-0 lead. The Cajuns added two more runs in the second inning on a Trahan sacrifice fly and Compton squeeze bunt to extend the lead to 4-0.

USA reliever Brandon Boyle pitched the first and only scoreless frame that Jaguars pitching would record in the contest by stranding a pair of Cajuns baserunners in the third inning.

The teams swapped two-run frames in the fourth inning resulting in a 6-2 lead for UL. The Cajuns would then put the game out of reach with a three-spot in the fifth inning.

Caleb Adams singled with one out and advanced to second on a groundout by Ryan Leonards. Strentz singled bringing home Adams, then moved to second on the throw home and advanced to third on a throwing error. A Trahan double down the left-field line scored Strentz and Compton followed with another double for the Cajuns to score Trahan and increase the lead to 9-2.

The Cajuns added an unearned run in the sixth inning and two more unearned runs in the seventh to create a 10-run lead. USA was unable to muster any offense in the bottom half of the seventh ending the game by mercy rule.

With the win Louisiana extended its winning streak to a season-high seven games. It was the Cajuns third straight win over the Jaguars (won season series finale and twice in SBC Tournament).

The Cajuns also increased their win improvement over last season's 23-30 record to 18 games, tying the 1997 squad for the largest turnaround in the Tony Robichaux era.

BASES NOTED: Seth Harrison's home run in the first inning gave Louisiana 70 home runs for the first time since 2007 (hit 76 that season)...The Cajuns improved to 33-3 when producing double figure hits and remained undefeated (16-0) when scoring double figure runs...Dex Kjerstad extended his season-best hitting streak to 12 games...Kjerstad is two shy of tying Tyler Girouard and Ryan Leonards (14-game streaks) for the longest hit streak by a Cajuns player this year...Kjerstad tops the Cajuns hitting .667 (8-of-12) in the Sun Belt Tournament...As a team, Louisiana enters Championship Sunday hitting .376 and slugging .614 in the 2013 SBC Tournament...Cajuns pitching has allowed just 22 hits over 25 innings pitched in the event...Louisiana's bullpen has pitched just 8 2/3 innings during the SBC Tournament...The 10-run margin of victory marked the Cajuns 21st triumph of six-plus runs...Dex Kjerstad now has 91 base hits, leaving him 10 shy of the school record 101 hits posted by Nathan Nelson in 2000...Jace Conrad picked up his 30th RBI giving UL eight of nine starters with at least 30 RBI...Ryan Leonards and Chase Compton (both at 29 RBI) need one more RBI to give Louisiana 10 different players with at least 30 RBI...In the two wins over South Alabama to advance to Championship Sunday, the Ragin' Cajuns outscored the Jaguars 21-4...The Cajuns season run differential is now +160 outscoring the opposition 445-285...Louisiana out-hit the opposition for the 36th time in 58 games and improved to 35-1 when the team's hits outweight the opposition....Louisiana took 2-of-3 from Florida Atlantic in a weekend series at "The Tigue" April 19-21 with a two-run home run by the Owls in the ninth inning of the middle game being the lone factor that prevented the Cajuns from sweeping the series...In the series finale the Cajuns run-ruled FAU 12-2 in seven innings behind a sterling pitching effort from Cody Boutte who did not allow an Owls base hit until the fifth inning.

LINE SCORE

Louisiana 12, South Alabama 2 (May 25, 2013 at Lafayette, La.)

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Louisiana........... 220 231 2 - 12 12 0 (41-17)

South Alabama....... 000 200 0 - 2 4 4 (42-18)

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Pitchers: Louisiana - Wilson, Ryan. South Alabama - Noble, Jacob; Boyle, Brandon (3); Billingsley, Cole (5); Patterson, Jordan (7)

Win-Wilson, Ryan (6-4) Loss-Noble, Jacob (5-3) T-1:52 A-1612

HR UL - Harrison, Seth (9)

Weather: 83, partly cldy, ESE @ 6 MPH

Billingsley faced 2 batters in the 7th

Deschamp Lifts LSUE To World Series Opener Win 4-3

Saturday, May 25, 2013

The LSU Eunice baseball team won its opening game of the 2013 NJCAA Division II World Series in dramatic fashion Saturday morning, coming from behind for a 4-3 victory over Lackawanna College capped off by Garrett Deschamp's walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Bengals (49-8) saw the ninth inning open with a single from Buddy McCoy, before he was lifted for pinch-runner Keagan Kratzer. Landon Thibodeaux's bunt attempt was thrown into center field by the Lackawanna pitcher to give LSU Eunice the winning run 90 feet away for Deschamp.
Deschamp delivered, sending a 1-2 pitch deep into left-center field, short-hopping the wall for the game winner.
"It was a great ballgame. Our guys battled. I'm really proud of our guys and the way they competed today to get that first W. At this time of the year, you don't get any style points. You just want to win and move on,' head coach Jeff Willis said.
Casey Rodrigue and Thibodeaux led the offense with two hits each, while the Bengals collected nine total hits in the game, with RBIs coming from Rodrigue, Deschamp and Evan Powell.
Bengal reliever Trae Hester earned his second win of the season after striking out four of the five batters he faced over the final 1 2/3 innings, also giving up one hit and a walk.
LSU Eunice starter Brady Domangue did not factor in the decision after tossing 7 1/3 innings of work and allowing three runs on eight hits, walking five and striking out five batters.
The Bengals left 14 men on base in the game, including leaving two men on base to end five different innings before coming through in the ninth inning.
Defensively, LSU Eunice turned three double plays behind Domangue as well.
After giving up a run to Lackawanna (41-19) in the top of the first inning, the Bengals tied and took the lead with a run in both the fourth and sixth innings, first in the fourth when Thibodeaux singled to lead off the inning before advancing to second on a walk, stealing third and trotting home as the ball sailed into left field.
In the sixth inning, LSU Eunice took the lead on Powell's solo homer down the line in left field, but Lackawanna scored two runs in the top of the eighth to take a 3-2 lead.
The Bengals again responded, this time with a two-out single by Rodrigue to plate Tyler Champman, who led off the inning with a single, to set up the ninth inning.
LSU Eunice now advances into the winners bracket and will play the third and final game of Monday night at 7 p.m. against the winner of today's Scottsdale Community College/Grand Rapids Community College game.