Cathedral hands St. Al its first loss
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 31, 2010
NATCHEZ — St. Al’s 14-game winning streak dating back to last season is no more, thanks to Cathedral pitcher Dylan White.
White shut down the powerful bats of St. Aloysius and held the Flashes to just eight hits in an 11-5 win.
“This is the first time we have really been held down all year,” St. Al coach Clint Wilkerson said. “That White kid pitched an outstanding game. He just wanted it a little more than we did.”
Cathedral (11-1, 3-0 Division 7-1A) gave St. Al (11-1, 4-1) its first loss of the season and moved into sole possession of first place in the division. Cathedral essentially can wrap up the division title when the teams meet again on Thursday night at Bazinsky Field. Despite the loss, the defending Class 1A champion St. Al has already clinched a playoff berth.
“I know that St. Al is going to swing the bats on Thursday,” Cathedral coach Craig Beesley said. “Holding them down to five or six runs is going to be tough. We’re going to have to swing the bats and score some runs.”
Beesley said the key to a win Thursday will be to get an early lead and put pressure on the Flashes.
The Green Wave got that early lead on Tuesday and never let go. St. Al never led in the game, and every time it made a run at Cathedral, the Green Wave would pull away again.
Cathedral jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Tyler Ballard blasted a double off the center field wall to bring home Aaron White.
St. Al tied the score in the top of the third on an RBI single by Stephen Evans, but the Green Wave didn’t let the Flashes stay with them for long.
Cathedral put three runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth, the first scoring on a groundout by Caleb Johnson and the next two coming on a double by Aaron White, who went 3-for-4.
St. Al came back again in the top of the fifth, scoring three times to knot the score at 4, but Cathedral again took the momentum back in the bottom of the inning. Collin Hammons and Hunter Foster hit back-to-back RBI singles to make the score 6-4.
St. Al scored a run in the top of the sixth on a single by Pierson Waring, but Cathedral struck the final blow with five runs in the bottom of the inning.