The Catholic High School baseball team took care of business in its Division III regional baseball series against a young Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy squad, drilling the Tigers 12-1 in five innings Saturday to follow up on Friday’s 17-0 run-rule opening win.

Broc Romero and Kade Gonsoulin combined to limit Patrick Taylor to two hits, a day after the Tigers were no-hit, and the Panthers slapped out 11 hits including a triple and a double back-to-back to open the game.

“My assistant, Jimmy (Jordan), that’s the first thing he mentioned, good job taking care of business,” CHS coach David Jordan said. “(That was) a team we should’ve beat and we were better than, and we showed that from first pitch to last pitch. A lot of times that’s not easy to do, especially when you prepare your guys to see a little bit more velocity (from the opposing pitcher). We’ve seen it in district. We struggle with velocity when it’s a lack of it. You see it all the time in the big leagues, you see it with LSU, but the guys did a good job with making their adjustments, seeing pitches travel long and hitting the ball well. A lot of guys made some great adjustments at the plate.”

Hunter Dugas led off the game with a triple and Dylan LeBlanc doubled to bring him home. Kyle Evans had a sacrifice fly RBI to plate the second run an Spencer Broussard added an RBI single to make it 3-0.

Colton Schnabel, the third batter for the Tigers, had the first hit of the two-game series with an infield single down the third-base line. He went to second on a balk and stole third, then scored on a base hit by Grant Roberts.

That was it for Patrick Taylor, which was the home team for the second game of the series at Emmitt Froisy Field. Two walks in the second inning, a hit batter in the third and a walk in the fifth were the only other times the Tigers had runners on base in the game.

CHS, meanwhile, added a pair of runs on three hits in the second inning, with two groundouts to first base bringing in the runs, and exploded for seven runs in the third on five hits and two errors. The Panthers sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning with Gonsoulin and Broussard each driving in a pair of runs and Dylan LeBlanc and Kyle Evans also getting RBIs in the frame.

Dugas finished 2-for-2 with a triple and two runs and Dylan LeBlanc went 2-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and two runs. Gonsoulin was 1-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs, Romero had a hit with an RBI and a run, Peter LeBlanc went 1-for-2 and scored two runs and Andrew Thompson went 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Courtesy runner Avery Guidry also scored a run.

Romero pitched three innings for the win, allowing two hits and walking two while giving up one run and striking out five.

“I thought I did a good job to win the game, but I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff,” Romero said. “I felt like I wasn’t hitting my spots well. The only pitch I had working well was the changeup.”

Gonsoulin was almost perfect in relief, striking out the side in both the fourth and fifth innings while giving up a walk to the next-to-last batter he faced.

“His first five batters, he only threw one ball,” Jordan said. “He looked pretty crisp.”

Don Wilson suffered the loss, giving up 12 runs on 11 hits with three walks and a hit batter in 2 2/3 innings. Austin McDonnell walked two and struck out two in relief.

No. 3 seed Catholic High (24-9) plays host to sixth-seeded Riverside Academy (18-12-2), which swept No. 11 Episcopal (17-14) in two games, 2-1 and 5-1. Patrick Taylor finished the year 9-19.

“The first game we came out good,” Romero said. “The second game was kind of sluggish, but I think we’re ready to get after either Riverside or Episcopal.”

Jordan said that with a lot of time off before the next best-of-three series, the Panthers will have to get in some simulated games. CHS has a lot of good arms, he said, but they need to see action to stay sharp, the coach added.

“Now, with the system the way it is, it’s just trying to keep all my pitchers fresh and give them game reps,” Jordan said. “We had two games and we only saw four pitchers, and we don’t play again until next Friday or possibly Saturday, so we’re going to have to intrasquad to keep our other guys ready, because as the competition steps up we’re going to have to use more arms. We think that’s an advantage that we have because we do have some good arms, but again, if we don’t get them out there, they’re going to get a little rusty.”

“We’ve just got to stay focused and take everything day by day and just keep our minds on the big picture,” Romero said.

CHS 17, Patrick Taylor 0

In Friday’s series opener, Gonsoulin had a career night on Friday, going 3-for-3 with a grand slam, a three-run home run and a two-run double to drive in what Jordan believes is a school playoff-record nine runs. Gonsoulin also scored three times in the five-inning affair.

Jacob Poe and Peter LeBlanc combined on a no-hitter with Poe going four innings and striking out seven and LeBlanc giving up a walk and striking out two.

Romero also went 3-for-3 with a home run, a double, three RBIs and a run and Dugas went -for-3 with a double, an RBI and three runs. Lipari added a pair of hits, Kolby Presley had a double and an RBI, Dylan LeBlanc tripled with an RBI and three runs and Nicholas Borne had a hit and a run.

Schnabel took the loss after giving up 12 runs on seven hits and three walks in a third of an inning. Only five of the runs were earned. Kyle Smith allowed five runs on eight hits with a walk and a strikeout in 3 2/3 innings.