Baseball Report: Holy Cross plays complete game to defeat Brother Martin, 6-1

Area Prep Baseball Report for Thursday, April 4

NEW ORLEANS – The scoreboard read “Kingsmen” for the home team at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium Wednesday night, honoring the legacy of Cor Jesu High School. The home team could not live up to the billing, thanks to an impressive bunch of Tigers, who did not allow the Kingsmen to dent the scoreboard until the final inning.

Sophomore Chandler Welch shut down a good Brother Martin lineup, pitching a complete game as Holy Cross blanked the Crusaders 6-1 in District 9-5A play.

“It was a great job by my defense,” Welch said. “The pitches that I missed on, I’m blessed to have the defense that I have. The team we played, that was a hell of a lineup. I tried to mix in the off-speed but nothing happened without these guys behind me. I had to learn from and adjust from my last game against Rummel.”

Welch allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out four, using 100 pitches.

Davis Stephens paced the offense with three RBI.

“Coach was talking about situational hitting all day and we concentrated on putting the ball in play,” Stephens said. “Chandler did a great job on the mound. I listened to my coaches. When you listen to your coaches, good things happen.”

Luke St. Amant had two hits and two RBI while John Dade Wooton and Nico Saltaformaggio added two hits for Holy Cross.

The Tigers turned a double play and made several good plays on the infield and in the outfield.

Cor Jesu merged with St. Aloysius to become Brother Martin in 1970 and the Crusaders honored their past by wearing Cor Jesu uniforms. The uniforms did not matter against a Holy Cross team which played perhaps its best game of the season.

“We’ve challenged our guys all year to play a complete game and I think we did that today,” Guillot said. “our at-bats, even when we got out, we had good at-bats. We were tough outs at the plate all night. Defensively, Nico Saltagormaggio turned a big double play in the first. Bryan Broussard ran down everything in center field. Gavin Schulz made a couple of nice plays. I thought Luke St. Amant played great behind the plate. Chandler’s been a competitor all year. He battles, he goes after people. It was encouraging to see.”

Holy Cross took the lead in the top of the third on a walk to Ryan Smilari and a double by Bryan Broussard. Adrian Aguilar reached on an error, scoring Smilari to make it 1-0. Cade Simpson was hit by a pitch but Brennan Stuprich stranded the bases loaded.

The Tigers got a big insurance run in the top of the sixth on a double by Saltaformaggio, a single Wooton and a sacrifice fly by Davis Stephens to make it 2-0.

The Crusaders loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth on walks to Tre Morgan and Brady Faust and a single by Joe Delaney but Welch got out of it on a fielder’s choice grounder to end the threat.

Holy Cross put the game away in the top of the seventh inning. Broussard was hit by a pitch and that ended the evening for Stuprich. Mayson Keene took over on the mound and gave up a single to Aguilar. He walked Wooton intentionally before Stephens singled home a pair of runs to make it 4-0 before St. Amant singled home two more to make it 6-0.

Brother Martin averted a shutout in the bottom of the seventh inning on singles by Cole Stromboe, Caden Nash and Morgan and an RBI fielder’s choice grounder by Faust.

Stuprich suffered his first loss of the season, going six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out five. Mayson Keene allowed three runs on five hits in the seventh inning. Morgan had two hits for the Crusaders.

“They put a lot of pressure on us, they got 11 hits,” Brother Martin coach Jeff Lupo said. “The guy on the mound, he kept us off balance and threw a lot of strikes. Uncharacteristically, we swung at some bad pitches but a lot of credit has to go to the guy on the mound. We made a big miscue to give them an unearned run and we had to play from behind the rest of the way. Tip your hat to them, we’ll get back to work tomorrow.”

The two teams are scheduled to conclude their series tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. at Tiger Park, though weather could factor into that scheduled contest. If it is rained out, the two teams would play at Mike Miley Stadium Friday.

“Now we have to try to put complete games together,” Guillot said. “We’re going in the right direction.”

Final
HC 001 001 4 — 6 11 0, 10 LOB
BM 000 000 1 — 1 7 2, 7 LOB
WP—Chandler Welch (4-1)
LP—Brennan Stuprich (5-1)
Time of Game: 1:55
SB—Gavin Schulz, Caden Nash, Ryan Smilari, Todd Canatella 2
2B—Bryan Broussard, Nico Saltaformaggio

Area Prep Baseball Results from Wednesday, April 3

New Orleans Area

Albany 11, Jewel Sumner 1

Amite 16, Varnado 1

Belle Chasse 6, Archbishop Hannan 5

De La Salle 12, St. James 2

John Ehret 4, East Jefferson 3

Fisher 14, NOMMA 4

Fontainebleau 9, Covington 0

Hahnville 10, Central Lafourche 0

Holy Cross 6, Brother Martin 1

Lakeshore 7, Franklinton 4

Loranger 5, French Settlement 0

Lusher Charter 5, Donaldsonville 2

Mandeville 3, Slidell 2

Pine 15, Independence 4 (game one)

Pine 16, Independence 0 (game two)

St. Augustine 13, South Plaquemines 2

St. Paul’s 3, Ponchatoula 0

Baton Rouge Area

Ascension Catholic 18, East Iberville 3

Brusly 6, West Feliciana 0

Catholic (BR) 22, McKinley 0

Catholic (PC) 7, Sacred Heart (VP) 4

Central 6, Walker 0

Denham Springs 10, Scotlandville 0

Destrehan 10, East Ascension 3

Holden 1, Doyle 0

Opelousas Catholic 13, False River 3

Runnels 7, Mount Hermon 4

St. Michael 3, Plaquemine 2

West Feliciana 17, Madison Prep 3 (game one)

West Feliciana 17, Madison Prep 0 (game two)

Westminster Christian 16, Slaughter Community Charter 4

Zachary 4, Live Oak 0

Bayou Area

Assumption 6, Ellender 5

Central Catholic 5, Centerville 3 (game one)

Central Catholic 17, Centerville 1 (game two)

Covenant Christian 10, P.K. Yonge (FL) 3 (game one)

Covenant Christian 3, P.K. Young (FL) 3 (game two)

Erath 6, Patterson 3

Kaplan 8, Berwick 7

Vandebilt Catholic 1, St. John 0

E.D. White Catholic 13, South Terrebonne 7

Area Prep Baseball Schedule for Thursday, April 4

New Orleans Area

Archbishop Shaw vs. St. Augustine, 6 p.m. at Wesley Barrow Stadium

Ascension Christian at Kentwood, 5 p.m.

Brother Martin at Holy Cross, 4:30 p.m.

Carver vs. Ben Franklin, 7 p.m. at Larry Gilbert Stadium

Country Day at Riverside Academy, 4:30 p.m.

John Curtis Christian vs. Jesuit, 6:30 p.m. at John Ryan Stadium

East St. John at Destrehan, 4 p.m.

Fontainebleau at Covington, 6:30 p.m.

Higgins at Chalmette, 4 p.m.

Houma Christian at West St. John, 4 p.m.

Grace King at West Jefferson, 4 p.m.

Landry-Walker at Bonnabel, 4 p.m.

Lutcher vs. Archbishop Rummel, 4 p.m. at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium

Pearl River at Salmen, 4 p.m.

Jewel Sumner at Albany, 6 p.m.

Patrick Taylor vs. Thomas Jefferson, 5 p.m. at Oakdale Playground

Baton Rouge Area

Catholic (PC) at Sacred Heart (VP), 4:30 p.m.

The Church Academy at Woodlawn (BR), 4 p.m.

Cristo Rey at Port Allen, 6 p.m.

Family Christian at McKinley, 3:30 p.m.

Riverdale vs. NOMMA, 4 p.m. at Perry Roehm Stadium

St. Amant at Dutchtown, 6 p.m.

St. Michael at Plaquemine, 4:30 p.m.

Bayou Area

Centerville at Central Catholic, 5 p.m.

Ellender at Assumption, 4 p.m.

Franklin at Ascension Episcopal, 5 p.m.

South Lafourche at Morgan City, 6 p.m.

Thibodaux at Terrebonne, 6 p.m.