St. Edmund pounds Eagles 8-1 in Class 1A semifinals

No. 7 St. Edmund pounded the baseball en route to an easy 8-1 victory against No. 6 Central Catholic in Class 1A semifinal action at McMurry Park Friday.
The Blue Jays pounded out 11 hits in the contest against two Central Catholic pitchers.
“It’s something that we haven’t been doing on a consistent basis all through the year,” St. Edmund coach Scotty Richard said. “It’s like it comes in spurts, and we needed it today because our guy on the mound wasn’t as sharp as he usually is. I was so proud of our kids the way we swung the bat today.”
While No. 7 St. Edmund recorded big innings in the fourth and seventh innings, scoring four and three runs, respectively, Central Catholic had trouble getting runners home.
“They outplayed us,” Central Catholic coach Tyler Jensen said. “That’s what I told the guys. Not a lot we could do. They played really well. We didn’t. … (They) caught a couple breaks, hit some ground balls, hard balls that had eyes. It seemed like every single thing that happened just went against us.”
The Eagles made contact off St. Edmund ace Drew Brown but more often than not, the ball went to a St. Edmund defender.
Central Catholic had just four hits in the contest and plated its lone run in the bottom of the fifth. However, they left nine runners on base.
St. Edmund struck first in the top of the third when Austin Sittig, who singled to begin the inning, stole second and third base during Aaron Sittig’s at bat before scoring on a passed ball shortly after.
In the top of the fourth, the Blue Jays had their first big inning when Gibson Lafleur led off the inning with a walk, and came around to score after a single by the next batter, Drake Brunet, who advanced to third on the play after a two-base error in the outfield.
St. Edmund would score three more runs via a fielder’s choice attempt at home that was no good, a single by Austin Sittig and a single by Ross Lafleur for a 5-0 lead.
While the Eagles loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, Brown got out of the inning with a fly out to right field.
The Eagles got on the board one inning later. Charlie Barron led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second base on Stefano Guarisco’s single to center field and scored on an error by St. Edmund.
While Guarisco reached third base on the same play, the Eagles could not push any more runs across as Brown recorded consecutive outs.
St. Edmund countered with three more runs in the top of the seventh via a two-RBI double by Drew Brown and a double by Jack Brown.
St. Edmund had four doubles in the contest.
Drew Brown, who has pitched every inning this postseason for the Blue Jays, earned the win Friday. In seven innings, he surrendered an earned run on four hits with five walks and three strikeouts.
Blake Hidalgo, who started for the Eagles, suffered the loss. In 3.1 innings, he surrendered five runs — four earned — on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Offensively, Ross Lafleur led St. Edmund with a 3-for-4 performance with an RBI and a run, while Drew Brown was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
Other top contributors included Jack Brown, 2-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run; Austin Sittig, 2-for-4, an RBI and a run; Brunet, 1-for-3, an RBI and two runs; and Alex Hunt, an RBI.
Samuel Guarisco led the Eagles with a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI, while Stefano Guarisco was 1-for-3 and Mitchell Lemoine, 1-for-4.
St. Edmund advanced to Saturday’s final against No. 1 Ouachita Christian. Ouachita Christian won the game 12-0 in five innings.
Friday’s game was the final one for the Eagles’ three seniors — Charlie Barron, Matthew Barbier and Tony Pennison.
Jensen said the trio was a part of approximately 94 wins during their four-year career and were the first group, as far as anyone can remember, Jensen said, to make the state baseball tournament four consecutive years.
“They have a lot to be proud of,” he said. “It’s guys we’re going to miss. They’re going to be really successful in life. They’re all smart kids that are going to move on to much bigger things than Central Catholic baseball, and like I told them, (if) this is the toughest thing they have to endure in their life, then they’re going to live a really, really, really good life.”
As for the rest of his team, of which a nucleus returns from this season, the Eagles will continue their quest for a state title, but not without some soul searching and looking at different aspects of the program, Jensen said.
“Maybe I’m spoiled,” Jensen said. “Maybe saying coming here four years in a row and not winning, it hurts. It never gets easier, and we have to figure out something different to change things because this isn’t going to get it done for us. Our program expects to come here and win. We’re not just happy to be here. It’s not a field trip for us, and so we got to figure out something for next year.”