CHURCH POINT -- The Sacred Heart Trojans have been playing a ton of baseball over the past week and a half and have not blinked in picking up five wins in a row.
The Trojans garnered win Nos. 8 and 9 on the season after sliding past St. Michael’s 7-5 on Saturday and rolling past the Church Point Bears Tuesday afternoon by the score of 6-0.
Sacred Heart now stands at 9-2-1 on the year and were scheduled to play Port Barre yesterday and will be hosting Oak Hill this afternoon. Game time for the Oak Hill game is slated for 4:30 p.m.
Against the Bears, the Trojans got great pitching from a trio of hurlers, as Cannon Beaver, Christian Duplechin and Cade Manuel combined for a three hit shut out of Church Point. Beaver went four innings, allowing only one hit, while striking out three, while Duplechin took to the hill for one and a third innings, giving up no hits and striking out two.
Manuel finished the game, throwing one and two-thirds innings, allowing two hits and striking out one.
The Trojans got things going offensively in a hurry. JT Harper led off with a solo blast into deep center field to score the first run of the game. Wesley Launey followed with a single and moved to second base when Garrett Fontenot was hit by pitch.
Alex Gotro induced an error, allowing Launey to score and moving Fontenot to second base. An infield base hit by Duplechin loaded the bases with nobody out.
Cody Shipp drew a walk, scoring Fontenot and kept the bases juiced. A fielder’s choice put Cade Manuel on first base, but put Gotro out at the plate for the first out of the inning.
Beaver stepped to the plate and hit a fly ball into center field deep enough to score Duplechin on the sacrifice. A fly out to short stop by Dru Scully ended the at bat, but the Trojans had jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Bears could come to the plate.
Great pitching from Beaver kept Church Point at bay for their first three plate appearances. The Bears could only manage one runner throughout the first three innings of play.
Sacred Heart completed their scoring in the top of the fourth inning. Beaver singled and moved to second on a balk from the Church Point pitcher. Harper followed a strike out with a single to put runners at first and third with one out.
Launey walked to load the bases once again. This time it was Fontenot with the big stick, as he doubled down the left field line, scoring Beaver and Harper. The Trojans could not produce any more runs, but the damage was done, as they now held a 6-0 lead.
That was all that Duplechin and Manuel needed, as they shut down the Bears the rest of the way.
On Saturday, Sacred Heart picked up 11 hits on the way to a win over a tough Class 4A St. Michael’s Warriors.
Neither team was able to get much offense going in the first two innings. St. Michael’s put up the first point of the game in the top of the third, scoring one run on no hits.
The Trojans answered emphatically in the bottom of the third by plating five runs of their own. Four singles in a row by Dru Scully, Jacob Castille, JT Harper and Wesley Launey got things going.
Following a fielder’s choice, Garrett Fontenot and Cody Shipp each singled setting up the big hit, a double by Cannon Beaver.
The Warriors did not go away easily. St. Michael’s got the bats going in the top of the fifth inning, scoring three runs on three hits, and three walks. With the trio of runs, St. Michael’s now trailed by only one run, 5-4.
Sacred Heart put the game away in the bottom of the sixth by picking up two more runs. A sacrifice bunt and a single did the damage for the Trojans, as they now held a three run advantage.
The Warriors did manage to plate a run in the top of the seventh, but could not sustain the offensive momentum long enough to tie the game.
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TRACEY JAGNEAUX