Prep baseball: Irish begin state title defense with 13-1 rout of Buffalo

“Well, it was our first game, and I was very happy with the way it turned out and very happy with the way the boys played,” Catholic coach Will Bobinger said.

“We never schedule a game until the Tuesday after the basketball state tournament because Catholic does pretty well and gets to the state tournament, so half my players play basketball.”

Despite the loss, Buffalo (0-4) played well, Bison coach Ron Arthur said. Arthur saw improvement from Buffalo against an Irish squad with considerable talent, he said.

“We’re not where we will be,” Arthur said. “We got some pitchers some work today. One sophomore who, it’s only the second game he’s ever pitched in, he got some good work in today. Then our center fielder, who does a great job in center field, came in and pitched fine, and they hit the ball to center field when he wasn’t out there.

“That’s the way baseball is sometimes.”

Sophomore Trevor Rutan got the start for Buffalo, pitching two innings and allowing four earned runs on seven hits. He was relieved by his cousin, Hunter Rutan, who also lasted two innings and allowed seven earned runs on six hits.

Trevor Rutan had Buffalo’s two hits. His first-inning single came with two outs in the frame, while a triple in the fourth set up the Bison for their only run. Hunter Rutan drove in Trevor Rutan with a sacrifice that cut Catholic’s lead to 6-1.

But the Irish never let up.

Luke Blaydes led the Catholic attack by going 3 for 3 at the plate with two doubles and an RBI. Blaydes opened the game with a leadoff double in the first. He took third when the ball was misplayed against the side fence in right field.

On the next play, Blaydes scored on a Buffalo throwing error that allowed Connor Jarvis to reach second. Xander Allara had an RBI single that brought Jarvis home for a 2-0 Irish lead.

Catholic followed that with four more runs in the second inning that started with a two-out double by Thomas Ryan, a single by Blaydes, an RBI double by Jarvis, a single by Jonah DiCocco and a two-run single by Zaden Ranson.

After a scoreless third, the Irish erupted for seven runs in the fourth that began with a leadoff walk to Blaydes and was followed by back-to-back RBI triples by Jarvis and DiCocco.

Ranson had an RBI double, Allara reached after he was hit by a pitch, Damon Master added an RBI single and Ryan drove in two with a double.

Blaydes capped the inning with an RBI double of his own.

DiCocco and Jaxon Kimble combined pitching efforts to hold Buffalo to one run. DiCocco pitched three innings, allowed one hit and no runs and struck out seven.

Kimble pitched two innings, gave up one hit and one run and struck out two.

“[DiCocco] was on a pitch count,” Bobinger said. “We wanted to keep him somewhere between 50 and 60 pitches and I think he was right around 52 or something like that.”

Bobinger said he limited Catholic’s pitchers in the season opener as part of a plan to develop their arm strength over the course of the season.

The goal is to get them to May when “the real baseball starts,” Bobinger said.

BUFFALO 000 10 — 1 2 3

CHARLESTON CATHOLIC 240 7x — 13 13 0

T.Rutan, H.Rutan (3), and Turner; DiCocco, Kimble (4) and Ranson. Hitting: (B) T.Rutan 2-2, 2B, 3B; H.Rutan 0-2, RBI. (CC) Blaydes 3-3, 2 2B, RBI; Jarvis 2-3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBIs; Ranson 2-3, 2B, 3 RBIs.