Jesuit scores early to oust Central

• By BRYAN LAZARE
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: May 6, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:38 a.m.

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CENTRAL — It didn’t take long for defending Class 5A champion Jesuit to take control of its second-round playoff game against Central on Monday afternoon.

The Blue Jays scored a pair of runs before they made an out. By the end of the first inning, Jesuit was well on its way to an 8-2 victory against the Wildcats.

The Blue Jays, who finished second to Brother Martin District 10-5A, will make their fifth straight trip to the Class 5A tournament. Jesuit will play Acadiana in a quarterfinal tournament game Friday in Denham Springs.

“We just couldn’t stop the bleeding in the first inning,” Central coach Mitch Covington said. “Jesuit has won a lot of playoff games, and they were ready at the beginning of the game. Overall, those guys have a lot of playoff experience.”

Central starting pitcher Kory Keowen recorded three first-inning strikeouts. But, six other Blue Jays hitters reached base and scored.

Cory Guidry led off the game with an infield single and moved to second base on a single by Chad Guidry. Keowen then hit Mason Katz to load the bases. Joe Morse gave Jesuit (24-10) a 2-0 lead with a pop fly single to leftfield.

After recording his first strikeout, Keowen (5-4) allowed a run-scoring single by Stephen Lukinovich. Keowen struck out another batter, but Scott Cronin hit a three-run homer to give the Blue Jays a 6-0 lead.

“Jesuit didn’t hit the ball that well in the inning,” Covington said. “The big blow was the three-run homer. Kory had given up just nine runs in his last six starts. We were confident in him.”

Jesuit added two runs in the second. Keowen was replaced by Cade LeBlanc after a leadoff double by Cory Guidry. LeBlanc hit two batters before giving up a two-run double by Joe Palmer. LeBlanc shut out the Blue Jays over the last five innings.

“Central’s forte is they do not give up a lot of runs,” Jesuit coach Tim Parenton said. “They like to hit and run. By us getting ahead early, that put a halt to that.”

Central (26-11) certainly had its opportunities to have big innings against Lukinovich and reliever David Hatfield. The Wildcats had at least two runners on base in every inning except one. Central was 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

“We put runners on base in every inning,” Covington said. “Jesuit made some good defensive plays and turned some double plays. We never could get that one hit which could put some pressure on them.”

The Wildcats scored a run with no outs in the first on singles by Brett Brooks and Justin Creel sandwiched around an error by Lukinovich (2-2). But, Central did nothing more in the inning as Austin Lowrance and LeBlanc struck out and Landon Thibodeaux flied out.