Hico – The road to the state baseball tournament in Class A for Region 3 has gone through Charleston Catholic for several years now.
Wednesday night, the defending state champions let it be known they will still be the team to beat when the postseason arrives.
Exploding for 12 runs in the sixth inning, the Irish broke open a tight game for a convincing 16-3 victory over Midland Trail.
“We have been doing that all year. Yesterday we played Buffalo and put up nine runs in the second inning,” Charleston Catholic head coach Will Bobinger said. “We have been trying to emphasize the fact that we need line drives and don’t try to hit home runs. When these guys focus on trying to do their job and hit nice line drives and hard ground balls, then we (are) tough to beat.”
On paper the clash between sectional foes appeared to be a pitchers duel.
On the hill for the Irish was sophomore phenom Jonah DiCocco. Taking the ball for the Patriots was “The Big Easy” Larry Bigham.
After two scoreless innings, the pitcher’s duel became more of a battle of survival.
A pair of errors in the top of the third staked the visitors to a quick 1-0 lead, before Charleston Catholic, uncharacteristically, returned the favor in the bottom of the inning.
A pair of hits batsmen and a throwing error on a routine ground ball led to a pair of runs for Trail, giving the home team a 2-1 edge.
Coming off a loss at James Monroe Saturday where a controversial call led to an implosion, Bobinger was pleased to see his team’s response during the tough inning.
“Credit Jonah and the rest of the guys. I went out there and talked to them a little bit and settled them down. They came back and did a good job,” Bobinger said. “We probably should have got through that without giving up the (those) runs, but you have adversity and you keep going.”
The Irish responded immediately with two runs in the fourth inning.
Connor Jarvis singled home Xander Allara, who doubled to open the frame, before DiCocco later brought home another run with a sacrifice fly.
The second error of the game for Catholic allowed a run to score in the bottom of the fourth, but the Irish regained the one-run lead in the fifth.
Zaden Ranson ripped deep shot for a one-out double and moved to third on a wild pitch. Allara brought him home with a sac fly for his first of two RBI on the night.
Then as the saying goes, things went a little sideways for Midland Trail. Well, maybe more than a little.
Luke Blaydes made Trail pay immediately for a leadoff walk when he drilled a ball to the right field fence for a triple.
Gannon Morris singled home Blaydes before two more hit batsmen loaded the bases with one out.
Back-to-back singles from Ranson and Allara scored two runs in front of Josef Brammer who worked a free pass for another score.
After starting the inning with a walk, Jarvis stepped in and hit a two-run double and the rout was on for the Irish.
“For five innings we showed that we could play with them. We are a good baseball team,” Midland Trail head coach John Mark Kincaid said. “They are 16-2 with a really good pitcher and they are a good team. Last year we did the same thing. We implode. We take one inning and self destruct. Before you know it, it just snowballs. Once they got feeling good about themselves, they put a spanking on us.”
Unfortunately for the Patriots, the damage was far from over.
A double by Morris scored two more before DiCocco turned on a first-pitch fastball and jacked a three-run bomb.
“We are still pretty young, but we have had a lot of experience getting through the playoffs and to the state tournament (last year),” Bobinger said. “They know what they are capable of and we have been putting up some good numbers. They are playing with a lot of confidence”
Although his team came out on the short end Wednesday night, Kincaid still believes his team can make a run at the Irish in the sectional tournament.
“If we can get into their rotation in the sectional, I feel good. I really do. It is like Cody Harrell said, we can’t play five innings and expect to beat a quality team like that. They are a quality team,” Kincaid said. “They are (fundamentally sound), well coached and have good ball players. We are a good hitting team and we have (pitching) depth if we can get to it. We just have to quit making mistakes.”