Every coach wants his team to peak at the right time. For Catholic High School baseball coach David Jordan, the Panthers are right on schedule. 

Two convincing wins over No. 13 seed Isidore Newman – 3-1 on Friday and 6-0 on Saturday – kept the Panthers in the running for the Select Division III title after earning a first-round bye to open the playoffs. 

Leading the way against the Greenies was a CHS pitching staff that seems to get better and better each week. Led by senior JohnDavid Hidalgo’s nine strikeouts, Catholic High managed to hold Newman to just one run in the opening game of the best-of-three series. Doubles by Luke Landry and Maddox Nacol helped CHS pick up a 3-1 win in Game 1. 

The defensive solidity continued into Saturday’s contest. LSUE commit Lane Fenske pitched eight strikeouts and allowed just three hits in the Panthers’ 6-0 win. Doubles by Hidalgo and Joseph Trappey led the team’s offensive performance. 

For head coach David Jordan, the defensive acumen his team is showing this season is a continuation of what CHS baseball has always been known for. 

“That’s been Catholic High baseball ever since I’ve been here. We pride ourselves on pitching and defense,” he said. “We have different ways of trying to score. We steal bases much more now, we have a really aggressive base coach now. We don’t blunt a whole lot, but we can bunt well. We’re pretty athletic, too. A lot of guys were starters on that state championship football team, so we’re as athletic as they come.”

Even with athleticism in good supply, a first-round bye and limitations on extracurricular activities before Easter were still worrisome for Jordan. Neither seemed to bother the Panthers much. 

“I really thought that Holy Week could have affected us because we weren’t able to practice on Friday, Saturday or Sunday,” Jordan explained. “Baseball players taking three days off at this point in the season is kind of a risk because you lose your timing. We were fortunate to be able to tune up against Rayne twice before the Holy Week. I think that really benefitted us, we were able to work a lot of arms.”

With his team back into the regular baseball routine, Jordan now has to focus on keeping his talented pitching staff ready for their call up. 

“There’s a good and a bad about these kinds of games,” Jordan said about his team’s wins over Newman. “Our starters are going a long way, carrying us deep into the game, but on the flip side of it we don’t get to use as many arms. Those guys have to stay locked in and we have to find creative ways to let them get out there and compete.”

The Panthers will face off against No. 5 seed St. Louis Catholic in the Select Division III quarterfinals this week, another best-of-three series hosted by Catholic High. For Jordan, playing a playoff series benefits teams that are more defensively sound, allowing his team to manage his pitching staff to the best of his ability. 

“The plays that we made this week kept the pitch count down,” Jordan said. “There’s nothing really routine about a ground ball in high school baseball, anything can happen. Our ability to make plays, take the hits away and make those routine plays, that keeps the pitch count down.”

St. Louis will come into New Iberia with a 15-18 record, having defeated No. 12 seed Holy Savior Menard in the second round by scores of 11-1 and 11-4. The two teams haven’t met up yet this season, but share a connection with Erath. The Panthers defeated Erath 4-1 to finish the regular season, while the Bobcats – the second-seeded team in Non-Select Division III – defeated St. Louis 11-3 earlier this year. 

A win over St. Louis would see the Panthers face off against top-seeded Parkview Baptist (29-6) in the semifinals, held at Sulphur’s McMurry Park. 

The first game of the quarterfinals is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, with games two and three being held at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., if needed.