CCHS, Ascension Catholic to meet in Division IV semifinals Wednesday

Division IV’s top seed, Central Catholic, will return to the Allstate Sugar Bowl/Louisiana High School Athletic Association State Baseball Tournament at McMurray Park in Sulphur Wednesday looking to take the next step towards a repeat as state championship when it meets No. 4 seed Ascension Catholic in Division IV action.
Central Catholic and Ascension Catholic will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Field 40 in a rematch of an earlier season contest that Central Catholic won, 3-1, in Ascension Catholic’s tournament March 18.
For the Eagles, who won the Class 1A title a year ago, the season got off to a rocky start as the squad sat at 1-4 following a loss to Vandebilt Catholic on March 2.
However, the squad since has reeled off 25 wins in their last 28 games, including a 13-game winning streak entering Wednesday’s semifinal.
Senior pitcher Blake Hidalgo said the team had to play through adversity early on.
“Yeah, we did win one last year, but we do want one this year, and a lot of our younger kids thought we had it at the beginning,” he said. “We were in a drought, but as we started becoming a team, we were able to pick up our record and start winning.”
Central Catholic Coach Tyler Jensen, who won back-to-back state championships his junior and senior seasons at Central Catholic in 2004 and 2005, said he told his team that while winning one title is a challenge, doing it in back-to-back years is even more difficult.
“Early on, we had our struggles,” he said. “I think, as Blake said earlier, some of our guys just thought we could step on the field and it would be just handed to us, but as the season progressed, you could see us getting better. You could see guys understanding that we had to take it to the next level. Practice has gotten progressively better, and as the season’s going on, we’ve gotten progressively better.”
Before the Eagles can even consider hoisting the inaugural Division IV state championship trophy, however, they must knock off a talented Ascension Catholic team.
“A state championship is not even something we’re thinking about right now,” Jensen said Monday. “We’re just thinking about trying to improve our self over the next two days and getting ready for Ascension Catholic, and we’ll take them one game at a time. You can’t get to Friday if you don’t win Wednesday.”
Ascension Catholic enters the semifinals with a 21-12 record, including a 9-3 mark in District 6-1A action. The Bulldogs, coached by Todd Landry, finished third in district play.
“He and I are pretty good friends,” Jensen said of Landry. “He does a really good job. They're very, very talented, led by two LSU Eunice signees.”
The two signees are Nick Bellina and Landon Clifton.
Jensen expects to see Clifton, who the Eagles faced two years ago in the quarterfinals, when the squads meet Wednesday.
“It’ll definitely be Clifton,” Jensen said. “He’s about as good as they come in our class. He’s someone we are familiar with. We’ve seen him once this year in our tournament. … Yeah, we saw him two years ago. Obviously a very talented arm.”
Jensen is traditionally mum on who he pitches before playoff games but has Hidalgo and Gregory Leger at his disposal. Hidalgo is 8-1 with a 0.87 ERA and 91 strikeouts, while Leger is 7-3 with a 1.73 ERA with 77 strikeouts and one save.
“I do think that’s an advantage for us that they don’t know who we’re throwing,” Jensen said Monday. “Our kids don’t even know who we’re throwing yet. Heck, we might not even know who we’re throwing yet, so it’s something that we’ll just look at the matchup and make a decision based on that.”
Leger, who also leads the team with a 0.427 batting average with six doubles, two home runs and 24 RBIs, said it is a “tremendous honor" to go to Sulphur each of his four years of high school.
“We worked really hard for this since we were freshmen,” he said.
Other top Central Catholic offensive contributors include senior Drake Angeron with a 0.396 average with eight doubles, two triples and 23 RBIs; senior Adam Dupuis, 0.377 batting average with four doubles and 22 RBIs; and senior Thomas Garber, who is hitting 0.363 with 10 doubles, one triple, one home run and 32 RBIs.
Additional reporting by www.theadvocate.com/ sports