Baseball Playoffs: John Curtis enjoy second straight blowout win over St. Paul’s to advance

BASEBALL BRACKETS

The ninth-seeded Patriots completed a two-game sweep at No. 8 St. Paul’s, shutting out the Wolves 8-0 Thursday night at Heap Field in the regional round of the Select Division I LHSAA state playoffs.

The Patriots outscored the Wolves 25-1 in the two games.

Mississippi State commit Michael O’Brien pitched five scoreless innings to get the win. O’Brien allowed just two hits, walked three and struck out eight. Bryce Hebert followed with a scoreless inning before Delgado commit Josh Eames finished it off, striking out three in his one inning of work.

Dagan Bruno had a two-run double, New Mexico commit Austin Ackel had two hits and an RBI. Andrew Martinez and Reid Duthu each added a hit and an RBI. Jason Curtis had two hits and O’Brien added a double as part of a 10-hit attack.

“I think it is the best we have played,” Patriots coach Jeff Curtis said. “It’s starting to come together for us. Part of our struggles early on this season was not getting guys in. We got guys on base but left a lot of guys on base in our losses. We’re getting big hits, especially with two outs. Anytime you can get five shutout innings from your starter with a fresh bullpen, you have to feel really good.”

Easton LeBlanc and Brennan Keim each had a single for the only hits for St. Paul’s. Cooper Winchester took the loss, going three and two-third innings, allowing seven runs on five hits. Logan Pontiff pitched the final two and a third innings.

John Curtis (20-9-1) advances to the quarterfinals to take on the winner of defending state champion and top seed Catholic and No. 17 Lafayette. The Bears took game one from the Lions, winning 5-3.

“We feel good about our pitching depth in a 3-game series and if we have to play the defending state champ, we’ll throw our hat into the ring. I feel good about our team,” Curtis said. “I’m proud of who we are and what we stand for and how hard we play. I’m okay with the results if we continue to go out and compete the way we are capable of competing.”