It was the type of offensive performance more reminiscent of what Parkview Baptist coach Phillip Hawke envisioned for his team.
The Eagles built a commanding five-run lead through four innings, and sophomore right-hander Cade Durbin made it stand up in a 6-1 victory Friday, sweeping the best-of-three Division III select regional series against Catholic-New Iberia.
“That’s the kind of team we’re going to be,” Hawke said. “Try to score each inning, try to create a little chaos. We want to be able to steal if we can, try and put some pressure on the other team. We know our starting pitching is going to allow us that opportunity to do that. I’m proud of our guys.”
No. 5 Parkview Baptist (30-6) advances to next week quarterfinal round against the Dunham-D’Arbonne Woods winner.
Durbin (7-0) carried a shutout into the sixth before surrendering an RBI groundout by Jack Chauvin. He allowed a run on four hits, walked two and struck out four in a 94-pitch outing and reliever Sam Mitchell pitched a scoreless seventh.
Parkview outlasted Catholic-NI (12-18) in Thursday’s opener 2-1 in nine innings.
The Eagles, the designated visiting team, got started early with three runs over the first three innings and extended their to lead 5-0 when Brant Melancon alertly stole home.
“We definitely tried to stay more to our approach and not go up with there without a plan,” Parkview left fielder Josh Acosta, who drove two runs, including an RBI in the sixth on a single to deep third base. “If you do that, it’s a plan to fail. Everyone stuck to their plan and was able to get the job done. We had some timely hits and did our job.”
Parkview wound up with eight hits against Catholic’s starter Lane Penske and reliever Jack Chauvin. The difference over the opener, though, was the Eagles’ ability to steal six bases – highlighted by Melancon’s steal of home in the fourth.
Catcher Thomas Bonaventure gave Parkview a 1-0 lead in the first with a run-scoring single through the left side and the Eagles added a pair of runs on three hits in the third. They picked up consecutive two-out, RBI singles from Tanner Powell and Wesley Marien for a 3-0 lead. Powell singled through the left side to score Cade Rodi and with Powell in motion, Marien singled to right-center and scored Powell all the way from first base.
“That’s what we do well. We try and force the issue,” Hawke said. “Anytime we identify an opportunity to be able to run, we have the athletes to be able to do that. That kind of allowed us to do until they showed they could stop us.”
Leave a Reply