[4/30/03]EAST POINT, La. As a herd of hamburger looked on, Porters Chapel Academy made mincemeat out of Riverdale.

Ryan Hoben struck out 11 in a one-hit shutout, Chase Towne and Andrew Embry homered, Humphrey Barlow drove in five runs, and the Eagles took advantage of 14 walks from three Riverdale pitchers to win 15-0 on Tuesday.

Towne and Aaron Curry each had three hits and an RBI for PCA, which took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three second-round Academy-A playoff series. The Eagles can advance to the South State championship series for the second time in three years with a win at home on Thursday. Game 2 will be at PCA at 4:30 p.m. and Game 3, if necessary, will follow.

“I was very concerned with a 10-day layoff, and we were definitely sluggish coming out. We didn’t have a lot of enthusiasm, and we didn’t hit the ball real well the first few innings,” said PCA coach Randy Wright, whose team stranded five runners in the first four innings. “But we put it together right there and came up with a big win, 15-0. I like it.”

The Eagles put Game 1 away by scoring eight runs in the top of the seventh, four of them on back-to-back home runs by Embry and Towne. In all, the Eagles sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning.

“I think what really got us was laying down in that last inning. I’m not very proud of that,” Riverdale coach Kevin Raupp said. “When you hit two bombs in an inning, it’s tough to battle back.”

Riverdale’s field borders a cow pasture, and before the game PCA’s players joked about hitting one of the bovines wandering just beyond the outfield fence. They took aim, but did most of their damage inside the park.

Riverdale starter Seth Hay struck out the first two batters of the game, but gave up a single to Towne and hit Josh Rush with a pitch. Barlow then lifted a lazy fly ball to right-center that should have ended the inning, but Riverdale outfielders Justin Coe and Gavin Cobbs lost it in the sun and the ball fell in for a two-run single.

Coe seemed to have settled under the ball in straightaway center, but the ball fell about 20 feet to the right of Cobbs. Coe never moved from his original position, and Cobbs only took a few steps.

“(Coe) has made one error all year, and that was a throwing error. He just lost it. I’ve never seen him do it. Things happen,” Raupp said. “When he hit it, I didn’t even look up. I just went he’s got it.’ That right fielder kind of hesitated because Justin covers so much ground, but we just missed it.”

It was a sign of things to come for the Rebels.

Barlow came through with another two-run single in the third inning to give PCA a 4-0 lead, and Hay’s control deserted him in the fourth.

After allowing a one-out single to Curry, Hay walked the next four batters. The last two, Rush and Barlow, earned their free passes with the bases loaded to bring in two more runs and put PCA ahead 6-0.

Hay, who had walked only 15 batters all season, was pulled after walking Barlow. In only 2 1/3 innings, he walked seven and gave up five hits while striking out five.

“That was our number one pitcher, and he just had a bad day,” Raupp said.

David Coffey replaced Hay and got out of the bases-loaded jam with a double play, but didn’t fare any better after that.

Michael Shinn doubled off him in the fifth and scored on Curry’s RBI single to make it 7-0. In the seventh, Coffey walked Gerald Mims and allowed another single to Curry before Embry launched a three-run bomb over the center field fence for a 10-0 lead.

The Eagles went back-to-back as Towne homered to left for an 11-0 lead. Coffey was pulled walking Rush, and the Eagles went on to tally four more runs before ending the inning. Wesley Purvis brought in a run with a bases-loaded walk, and Josh Gain capped the rally with a two-run single to left. Another run scored on an error.

While Riverdale’s pitchers struggled with their control, Hoben was a master of it.

He hit two batters in the second inning, but didn’t allow a hit until Hay lined a single to center to lead off the fifth. Hoben proceeded to strike out the side in the fifth, and only allowed one ball out of the infield the rest of the way.

He retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced eight of them on strikeouts and didn’t allow a walk the entire afternoon. No Riverdale runners advanced past second base as Hoben faced only four batters over the minimum.

“He was dominant out there. He throws a seven-inning, one-hit shutout,” Wright said. “That’s powerful.”