Baseball Blunder

Many fans may have noticed that the Charlotte Catholic baseball team was ranked number one in the state on The Charlotte Observer’s Sweet 16 poll and among the top teams in Prep Baseball Report’s NC Power 25 as the spring baseball season approached. They played their first game on February 28 in a dominating 11-4 win against Grace Christian. After this win, many believed this year’s team would live up the hype all around them.

The new conference brought changes to the season’s schedule. One major modification includes playing in a three game series against each conference opponent. The first team Catholic would face on this list was Cuthbertson.

Catholic and Cuthbertson traded runs all night, with each team scoring two runs in the first inning and one in the second inning. However, the Catholic pitching staff racked up 9 walks, which resulted in the game ending in a shocking 7-6 loss for the Cougars.

The next day, Catholic went back to Cuthbertson and started hot, leading 7-2 after the fifth inning. Unfortunately, due to Catholic’s errors and poor pitching, Cuthbertson scored six runs in the last two innings, beating Catholic 8-7 on a game-ending walk and winning the series. Reflecting on this disappointing loss, senior Quinn O’Rourke said, “Once we thought we scored enough runs we were less focused on the game and thought we had an easy win, which allowed them to come back and win.”

Credit: MaxPreps

After these back-to-back losses, Catholic’s state ranking dropped from first to 83rd. Additionally, there has been a lot of chatter about whether  the Charlotte Catholic baseball team is as good on the field as they are on paper. 

On Friday, Catholic played at home against Cuthbertson in the final game of the series. Although this game did not dictate who would win the series, Catholic was going to do everything in its power to not get swept 3-0.

Cuthbertson started off strong, scoring five runs in the first inning off Catholic’s pitcher Griffin Mckain, who is ranked number two among left-handed pitchers in the state. Catholic quickly responded by scoring 12 runs in the third inning, and later went on to beat Cuthbertson 14-7. After the game, senior Cooper Gornet said, “We haven’t lost a home game at The Jack in two seasons, so we had to keep the streak going.”

The following week, Catholic played Piedmont on Tuesday, March 10, and Wednesday, March 11. In the first game, Catholic played away at Piedmont and beat them in a 19-0 blowout. In the second game, Catholic won 11-1, clinching the series.

As the season progresses, the Catholic baseball team hopes to get better and have the chance to win their first state championship.