Local prep baseball teams ousted from playoffs

Staff Report
The Tri-City area’s prep baseball season came to an end Saturday as the three local teams in contention were eliminated in their best-of-three series.
In Class 3A, No. 8 Berwick fell to No. 9 Jena in a mild upset two games to one, while also in Class 3A action, No. 17 Patterson dropped two games to No. 1 Sterlington.
In Division IV, No. 11 Central Private upset No. 6 Central Catholic two games to one.
With no local teams in the postseason, it will mark the first time since the 2011 season that the Tri-City area has not had a baseball team advance to at least the state semifinal round.
From 2012-17 and again in 2019, Central Catholic advanced to at least the semifinal round in Class 1A and later Division IV. During that time, the Eagles finished as runners-up three times and state champions once in 2016.
From 2017-19, Berwick advanced to at least the state semifinal round in Class 3A, winning the title in 2018.
Below are recaps of the weekend action.
Berwick
The Berwick Panthers ended their season falling at home to the Jena Giants in three games.
Friday, Jena run-ruled Berwick 18-1 in five innings.
Saturday, Berwick responded with a 7-1 victory in game two before Jena won the finale 9-4.
No individual stats were submitted.
Berwick finishes its season with a 16-10 record, while Jena improves to 18-14.
Jena will advance to play top-ranked Sterlington in Sterlington this weekend. Sterlington advanced after defeating No. 17 Patterson in two games.
Patterson
The Patterson Lumb-erjacks fell to top-ranked Sterlington on the road this weekend in two games.
Patterson dropped game 1 Friday 9-0 before being run-ruled 13-1 Saturday in five innings.
“We played well,” Patterson coach Brett Doré said. “Sterlington threw their guy for 7 innings the first game, and we barreled him up. Just couldn’t get the ball to drop in our favor. Played sound defense all weekend, but they just outhit us in the end.”
For the weekend, Patterson’s top hitters were Don Diaz, Haydn Bailey and Drew Dinger. Diaz finished 2-for-5 with a double, Bailey was 2-for-5 with an RBI and Drew Dinger was 2-for-4.
On the mound, Patt-erson’s top pitcher from the weekend was Drake Dinger. He threw four innings and allowed one hit, no earned runs or walks and fanned two.
Patterson finishes its season with a 16-14 mark.
“We had a phenomenal season in my opinion,” Doré said. “Coming off of 1 half of a season and not much of a summer, my kids bounced back and made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs. That is only the 6th time in Patterson’s history for the baseball program, and that is something that I want them to be very proud of.”
Sterlington improves to 28-4 and will advance to this weekend’s Class 3A quarterfinals where it will meet No. 9 Jena. Jena advanced after defeating No. 8 Berwick in another regional-round series.
Central
Catholic
Central Catholic fell this weekend to Central Private in the Division IV postseason.
While Central Catholic won game 1 of the series 4-1 Friday, the Eagles dropped game 2 1-0 Saturday. Central Private won game 3 later Saturday 9-4.
No individual Central Catholic stats were available.
Central Catholic finishes its season with a 16-10 mark, while Central Private improves to 13-13.
Central Private will advance to the quarterfinal round this weekend where it will travel to face No. 3 Calvary Baptist. Calvary Baptist defeated No. 14 Highland Baptist in two games this weekend in other regional-round action.