Flashes clobbered by rival Cathedral|[3/7/06]

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Someday, St. Aloysius might have a baseball dynasty in Mississippi. For now, Cathedral is still the king of the mountain in their heated rivalry.

Patrick McDonough faced the minimum number of batters, allowing only two hits and walking none in six innings, to lead Cathedral (4-0, 2-0 Division 7-1A) to an 11-0 rout of St. Al.

Zack Calhoun went 4-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored for Cathedral, which has asserted its dominance over its archrival recently.

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It was the fifth straight win in the series for Cathedral, and the sixth in seven tries. After going seven years without a win in Vicksburg, the Green Wave has now won three straight over St. Al here.

&#8220That’s a definite plus,” McDonough, who had nine strikeouts, said of beating St. Al. &#8220It was a good game, but we have to play tomorrow so we can’t worry about it too much.”

McDonough was outstanding, but St. Al (4-3, 2-1) helped his cause. The Flashes committed five errors and had several other defensive flubs that didn’t appear in the box score.

Three of the errors came on consecutive at-bats in the sixth inning, when Cathedral scored seven runs to put the game away. After the three errors, Calhoun hit a ball that was misjudged by St. Al center fielder Jordan Muirhead and went for a two-run triple that provided the Green Wave’s last two runs.

&#8220This is the most disappointing loss in my career. They’re a good team, no doubt, but we can’t come out and play with the lack of intensity and focus like we did and expect to win a baseball game,” St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson said. &#8220I don’t know what it’s going to take, but we’re going to find it. We’ll find nine guys who are going to come out every day and be focused. There’s going to be some changes made.”

Cathedral took the lead with two runs in the third inning, then two more in the fourth. RBI singles by Charlie Lane and Kole Junkin, as well as a squeeze bunt by Braxton Fondren and two St. Al errors helped stake the Wave to the early 4-0 lead.

Then, in the sixth inning, the floodgates opened as St. Al’s defensive meltdown commenced.

Calhoun led off with a single and Junkin walked before Wilkerson lifted starting pitcher Blake Tidwell. Ryno Martin-Nez entered the game and struck out pinch-hitter David Ozburn before Jerad Burkhardt laid down a bunt.

Martin-Nez fielded it and flipped to catcher Sean Weaver, but Calhoun slid under the tag to make it 5-0.

After Martin-Nez got Preston Edwards to pop out, he surrendered a walk to Fondren and coaxed a grounder to first base by Lane. The ball skipped off the first baseman, however, allowing another run to score.

Two more fielding errors followed before Calhoun blasted his triple to deep center, making it 11-0.

McDonough then retired the side in order in the seventh, ending the game by the mercy rule.

&#8220The bottom line is, we did not compete and we did not get it done, and I take the blame for that. That’s my fault,” Wilkerson said.