Jesuit Off to a 4-1 Start

The varsity baseball team has a home opener this afternoon at John Ryan Stadium where the Jays host Vandebilt Catholic in a 3:30 p.m. non-district game.

Coach Joey Latino’s 2015 varsity baseball team — showing strength on the mound and at the plate in the first five games — take on the Vandebilt Catholic Terriers this afternoon at John Ryan Stadium. First pitch is 3:30 p.m.

Admission for Jesuit and Vandebilt students with school IDs are $3; adults are $5.

Note that the original starting time was 6 p.m.; the new starting time of 3:30 was announced several days ago.

This is the delayed home opener at the Ryan for the Blue Jays who played two of their first five games at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium. Alumni Field at John Ryan was still configured for soccer playoffs and practice, as Jesuit’s team went all the way to the finals last Saturday.

Now, the Ryan belongs to March Madness from here on out. Senior Myles Blunt (1-0) starts on the mound for the Jays. Blunt picked up his one win when he started against Grace King in the season’s very first game, which ended in a lopsided score of 30-0.

The Jays bring a 4-1 record to their home opener and experienced solid tournament play in the WGNO Classic, which consisted of four games played Thursday, Feb. 26 through Saturday, Feb. 28. In those four games, the Blue Jays had a total of 36 hits and 17 RBIs. Jesuit pitchers struck out 28 batters.

In the two opening games of the Classic, the Jays shutout the Chiefs of W. Ouachita, 7-0, at Zephyr Field and the Bearcats of Ruston, 5-0, on Friday at the Rooney. Senior pitcher Jack Burk pitched six innings of no-hit baseball against the Chiefs, striking out 12 batters, before junior Brandon Briuglio finished the final inning. In the Ruston game, junior Sean Bretz pitched five innings, giving up three hits and striking out seven. Blunt came in relief for the final two innings and gave up two hits, but he and Bretz combined to shut out the Bearcats. Notably in the Ruston game, senior Scott Crabtree saw a fast ball down the turnpike and belted a towering three-run homer — his first as a Blue Jay — over the right-center field wall at Rooney.

Senior catcher Trent Forshag has 10 hits in five games.

In Saturday’s afternoon’s double-header at Chalmette High School, the Jays slipped by the Fighting Cardinals of Belle Chase, 4-3, in the first game behind the hitting of senior catcher Trent Forshag (3 hits, 2 RBIs) and senior shortstop Alex Galy (2 hits, 1 RBI), and the pitching of sophomore Davis Martin, who threw six innings, allowing seven hits and three runs. Davis was relieved by Briuglio and Blunt. In the WGNO closer, the Jays were leading the Franklinton Demons, 2-1, going into the top of the seventh inning. That’s about when the wheels fell off. Senior Logan Hornung pitched 6.1 innings, giving up seven hits and the tying run (he struck out two), and was relieved by Briuglio who gave up four runs and took the 6-2 loss.

Senior 3B Scott Crabtree has 10 RBIs – and a home run – in five games.

Forshag and Crabtree are two of the four or five batters carrying hot bats to the plate. In five games, Forshag has 10 hits and Crabtree has 10 RBIs.

“I am pleased with our hitting and pitching in the first five games,” said Coach Latino, who begins his fifth year as head of Blue Jay Baseball. “Four-one is nothing to sneeze at.”

After Vandebilt, the Jays host seven teams in the 3rd Annual Jesuit Invitational Tournament which takes place mostly at John Ryan Stadium. Among the teams playing this year are Brother Martin, Archbishop Shaw, and Assumption, in addition to the four teams below the Jays are scheduled to play.