Jesuit Stays in the District Hunt with an 11-6 Victory Over Shaw

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Hayden Fuentes smashes a ball deep into the right-center gap and rounds third base, heading for home and possibly a rare inside the park home run. In a close “bang-bang” play at the plate, the umpire ruled Fuentes out.

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It was a spring slugfest, a real bang-bang that Jesuit and Archbishop Shaw put on for their fans — and for a live regional television audience via CST — on a sunny and windy Saturday afternoon at John Ryan Stadium. In a game that lasted two hours and 45 minutes, the two rivals combined for a total of 17 runs on 20 hits. The wind combined with a bright, laser-like early afternoon sun played havoc with fly balls for both teams, with the Eagles having a particularly difficult time.

The Jays came out on top, 11-6, which improves their district record to 3-2. A trio of Blue Jays accounted for nine of the team’s 13 hits: second baseman Brandon Briuglio and shortstop Marc Theberge each had two doubles and a single; Briuglio had three RBIs to Theberge’s one RBI. Hayden Fuentes had a single, a double, and a triple that he almost extended into an inside the park home run.

In the bottom of the first inning, Connor Maginnis hits this pitch for an RBI single that scores Brandon Briuglio from third base for the Jays’ first run of the game.

In the bottom of the fifth with two Jays on base, Fuentes smashed a 3-1 pitch into the right-center field gap. Coach Joey Latino gave Fuentes the green light to go home, and the play at the plate was close. But the umpire ruled Shaw’s catcher tagged Fuentes before he touched the plate. “It was a close play,” the home plate umpire said afterwards, adding, “It was a bang-bang play.”

In addition to Briuglio’s, Theberge’s, and Fuentes’s contributions, Connor Maginnis punched an RBI single, Stephen Sepcich and Mark Beebe had stand-up doubles, and catcher Josh Schmidt singled.

“You have to be prepared to win any type of game and today certainly wasn’t the prettiest of things,” said Coach Latino. “Once we got the lead, we hung onto it. Give Shaw a lot of credit. They kept battling, they kept punching up runs. Every time we scored, they’d answer with runs. Overall, I’m pleased. Being 3-2 now keeps us in the district hunt with a very big week coming up — Brother Martin on Tuesday, Rummel on Friday, and Brother Martin again on Saturday.”

Coach Latino acknowledged that Holy Cross, Brother Martin, and John Curtis are ahead of the Jays in the district race, “but all those teams still have to play each other,” he said. “Teams are going to start knocking off teams and when the dust settles at the end of next week, we’ll know everybody’s position going into that final week of district.”

Coach Latino said the key factors in Jesuit’s win over Shaw was jumping out to an early lead.  “The three runs in the second inning put us up 4-1,” he explained. “They answered and tied it and we came right back with four more runs. Once we did that, we were able to settle in a little bit. The last two pitchers I thought did a good job for us. Chris Beebe and Richard Oubre came in and threw strikes and were able to hold Shaw at bay from that point.”

Right fielder Connor Maginnis calls off second baseman Brandon Briuglio and catches this fly ball. The sun and wind combined to play havoc with fly balls for both teams.

Left-hander Davis Martin made his first start this year after nursing an injured elbow. He threw two full innings, giving up one unearned run. He had two walks and two strikeouts. Martin was relieved by Todd Crabtree, who pitched two-thirds of an inning. He gave up three runs on one hit. He had three walks, no strikeouts, and he pinged a batter. Chris Beebe came in for two-thirds of an inning, spanning the third out in the third inning and the first out in the fourth inning. He gave up two runs on three hits. Beebe didn’t issue a walk and had one strikeout. Richard Oubre came in for the final three and two-thirds innings, giving up no runs, allowing two hits, and walking one batter. He had one strikeout. Beebe got the win, his first decision this season.

Coach Latino added that he likes the way the Jays, with a 17-5 overall record, are approaching competition.

“Our attitude has been great and our practices have been good,” he said. “It’s just the consistency in our play that has to get a little better. Today I thought we were like we were two weeks ago, in just making mental mistakes. We dropped a fly ball at second base which should never happen. We made a couple of mistakes with 0-2 counts and that should never happen. So if we clean those things up and we start playing a little more solidly in that area, I think we’re going to be fine.”

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The New Orleans Advocate: Jesuit takes advantage of windy conditions to blow past Shaw