Blue Jays soar to remain perfect in district
By Tom Dodge
Twelve batters and eight runs in the fourth inning propelled the St. Edmund Blue Jays to an 11-2 win over False River Academy Thursday.
With the win, the Blue Jays improved to 13-9 overall and 3-0 in District 6-1 while the Gators fell to 6-11 overall and 2-1 in district.
“It kind of puts us as the front runner, but we can’t take anybody lightly,” St. Ed head coach Tre Brown said of the win. “We played a complete baseball game and competed at a high level.”
Mac Manuel earned the win for St. Eds as he allowed only one hit with two walks and a strikeout in a complete game effort.
“He threw 80 pitches over seven innings and he looked great,” Brown said. “He attacked the strike zone and had command of his pitches. He only gave up one hit and walked two in a great performance.”
The Blue Jays took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second as Trevor Hargroder walked, Edward Turk singled and both scored on a double from Ryan Johnson.
The Gators tied the game in the top of the fourth when Brogan Garr walked and scored on a triple by Thomas Guillory.
Guillory then scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Aaron Olinde.
St. Eds then put the game away with the eight-run explosion begun when Turk walked, Johnson doubled and Manuel ripped a two-RBI single.
Wesley Richard drew another walk off Gator starter Olinde and Quinn Arnaud added a double to plate pinch runner Jarrod Fontenot.
Tyler McGee singled and Jeff Fontenot followed with a sacrifice to score Richard, while
Tyler Rodriguez singled down the first base line to plate Arnaud for a 7-2 sadvantage.
In his second plate appearance of the inning, Trevor Hargroder singled to right field to push across McGee and Rodriguez.
Turk laid down a perfect two-out bunt to score Hargroder and the eight-run romp was complete.
“I knew sooner or later we were going to start hitting the ball as we are pretty solid in our line-up,” Brown said. “We did a good job getting people into scoring position and moving them around the bases to put a lot of pressure on them – which was good.”
The Blue Jays added a run in the bottom of the fifth when Fontenot singled and scored on a single from Arnaud.
After facing Zachary in a non-district doubleheader this weekend, St. Eds return to district action at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when the Blue Jays entertain St. Joseph.
St. Eds begins the second half of district play 5:30 p.m. Thursday at home against Catholic High of Pointe Coupee.
St. Eds 14, Prep 2
OPELOUSAS – On Tuesday, the St. Edmund Blue Jays picked up their second District 6-1A win, forging ahead with six runs in the sixth inning to beat Acadiana Prep 14-2 at Donald Gardner Stadium.
St. Eds broke out with three runs in the top of the first inning, and added one each in the second and third innings.
The Jays scored another three runs in the top of the fifth to lead 8-0.
In the top of the sixth, the Jays stormed the field with their strongest showing of the game, scoring six runs.
Acadiana Prep scored two runs in the second half to escape a shutout, but were unable to avoid the mercy rule ending.
Trevor Hargroder went two-for-two with three RBI.
Quinn Arnaud (3-3), Tyler McGee (1-1) and Doug Zaunbrecher (1-1) each doubled and drove home one run.
Edward Turk sacrificed for one RBI.
Hargroder pitched the win, giving up no hits, runs or walks for the first four innings of the game, while striking out six batters.
St. Edmund is currently ranked fourth in the state for Class 1A in the Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association polls.