CCHS blanks Ascension Episcopal 10-0

Central Catholic coach Tyler Jensen admitted after Wednesday’s Class 1A regional round baseball game against District 7-1A foe Ascension Episcopal that he was uncomfortable about playing them again.
Whatever nerves he had were put at ease by a solid output by his squad, including several individual performances, to help lift the Eagles to a 10-0 run-rule victory in six innings.
Central Catholic pitcher Blake Hidalgo and the Eagles defense worked out of several jams, while offensively, Samarick Paul finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs, driving in the game’s final two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a single to left field to end the ball game via mercy rule.
“I was very uneasy, especially after the last time we played these guys,” Jensen said. “I knew we would see the same pitcher. He’s an eighth grader. He’s going to be really good. We flew out 12 times the last time we played those guys, so I was really concerned. After our last playoff game, I felt we maybe turned a corner at the plate. Granted we didn’t see great pitching the first round (but) I felt good about our swings (and) our at bats. We had some guys step up today and it was just a great team win.”
With the win, the No. 6 seed Eagles (22-4) will advance to the Class 1A quarterfinals for the fourth straight year. They will have to hit the road for the first time this postseason, though, as they will travel to face No. 14 Ascension Catholic (16-16), who scored a 6-3 upset win at No. 3 Hanson Tuesday.
No. 11 Ascension Episcopal ends its season with an 18-10 mark.
While Wednesday’s win was much more lopsided than the 4-1 victory the Eagles took in district play from Ascension Episcopal in Amelia exactly two weeks before, it didn’t start that way.
Central Catholic took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning via a Thomas Garber single and a T.J. Ruffin double in back-to-back at bats.
The score remained the same through the second and third innings as Ascension Episcopal threatened but couldn’t push across a run.
The Blue Gators left runners on second base and first base in the second inning, runners on second and third in the third inning, and runners on first and second in the fourth.
Hidalgo got two fly outs to get out of the second inning, a strikeout and a fly out to get out of a jam with runners on second and third with one out in the third and a strikeout to get out of the fourth.
“He didn’t pitch like a sophomore today,” Jensen said. “He didn’t have his best stuff, but he found a way to get it done. A couple times, he had to dig deep in the tank. Defense bailed him out a couple times, and that’s one thing we’ve been doing really well is playing really good solid defense making really good plays.”
In 5.1 innings of work, Hidalgo surrendered five hits, four walks and fanned five.
Samuel Guarisco came on in relief in the top of the sixth with the bases loaded and one out, but the Eagles got out of a jam as Guarisco induced a ground ball to T.J. Ruffin, who threw home to catcher Matthew Barbier to get the lead runner before he fired to first base to get the batter out for a double play to end the inning.
While Ascension Episcopal pitcher Sean Michael Brady, an eighth grader, escaped a threat by the Eagles in the bottom of the third with a strikeout and a fly out, the Eagles bats came alive in the bottom of the fourth.
With two outs, the Eagles pushed across four runs as Paul singled to left field, and after a Stefano Guarisco single and an intentional walk to Samuel Guarisco, two more runs scored on an error by Ascension Episcopal’s second baseman.
The Eagles added another run on Garber’s single to right field, while the Eagles ended the inning two batters later with the bases loaded.
The Eagles plated two more runs in the bottom of the fifth via Paul’s double over the left fielder’s head and Samuel Guarisco’s sacrifice fly to centerfield, while Paul ended the game in the bottom of the sixth with a two-RBI single to left field.
“He took advantage of an opportunity in a big way,” Jensen said of Paul “He was clutch for us in some big spots. It was good to see him have some success.”
Paul was part of an offensive assault as the Eagles pounded out 14 hits. Eight of nine batters Central Catholic sent to the plate had at least one hit, while five of those batters had at least one RBI.
“It was a team effort, especially at the plate,” Jensen said. “It was good to see us hit line drives and ground balls and for the second straight game, we did that. We tell the kids all the time ‘You square balls up, you take good swings, good things (are) going to happen’ because we have some really talented kids, especially at the plate.”
Other top offensive contributors for the Eagles included Garber, 2-for-3, two RBIs and a run; Ruffin, 2-for-3, an RBI and a run; Charlie Barron, 2-for-4, two runs; Hidalgo, 2-for-4; Samuel Guarisco, 1-for-2, an RBI and a run; and Lemoine, two RBIs.
Ascension Episcopal coach Lonny Landry said his team’s youth hurt them in the loss.
“We had opportunities to scratch a run here, scratch there, and we failed to play fundamental baseball and that’s been our success all year, getting guys over, getting them in,” he said.
He credited Central Catholic, too.
“They’re a good team and they played a good game,” he said.
Brady suffered the loss. In four innings, he surrendered eight runs — five earned — on 10 hits with three walks, two hit batters and fanned one. He faced three batters in the fifth.
Brady led Ascension Episcopal at the plate, too, with a 2-for-3 performance.