The Catholic High baseball team remained upbeat after dropping Game 1 of its Division III Select quarterfinal series vs. No. 5-seeded St. Louis Catholic on Thursday. 

The Panthers (20-10) will rely on their deep pitching staff as they try to win a potential doubleheader on Friday against the Saints (17-18), who took the first game 10-3 despite finishing with only four hits. 

“We saw their best (pitcher) today, got three runs off them, and had some good at-bats,” CHS coach David Jordan said. “Offensively, we didn’t look that bad. We have to feel good about that.

“We have (Lane) Fenske coming back tomorrow to pitch. We have JD (Hidalgo), who should be ready tomorrow. We have (Jace) Ruskoski. We feel like we’re in a position to be able to win two tomorrow, particularly with our arms.”

Hidalgo, who hit a solo home run on Thursday, has a 6-1 record and a 0.94 ERA. Fenske (1.37 ERA) and Ruskoski (1.85) have enjoyed excellent senior seasons on the mound. 

The Panthers outhit St. Louis 5-4 but committed five errors and walked 11 batters. CHS starting pitcher Luke Hewitt went four innings and allowed one hit and six runs (three earned).

“That was very uncharacteristic of us, particularly with the way we’ve been playing, and especially with the errors,” Jordan said. “You can’t beat anybody doing that, much less a team in the quarterfinals.”

Third baseman Izaac Andre hit a double in the fifth inning and scored on Maddox Nacol’s single. Joseph Trappey, who reached on a walk, advanced to third on Nacol’s hit and stole home. 

Left fielder Luke Landry and second baseman Owen Morris each had a hit for the fourth-seeded Panthers. Hidalgo is batting .326 with seven doubles and four home runs. Fenske has a .348 average, 12 doubles and two homers. Landry (.300) has scored a team-high 20 runs. 

“They definitely didn’t see our best game, so we’re hoping that changes tomorrow,” Jordan said. “Our backs are up against the wall, now that we dropped the first one. Our kids are resilient. They’re tough kids. They’ll battle back.”

Game 2 will begin at 4:00 p.m. with Game 3 (if necessary) to immediately follow. The winner of this series will meet either No. 1 Parkview Baptist (30-7)/No. 9 Dunham (19-8) in the semifinals This season, the semifinals will be played at the higher-seeded school instead of Sulphur. 

Dunham won Game 1 at Parkview Baptist 3-2.