When NISH hosted Catholic High for a replay of the Panthers’ home opener on Tuesday, it was clear that both teams desperately needed a win.

The Yellow Jackets were 1-4 to start the season, picking up four losses in a row after defeating Westgate 10-0 to start the season. Catholic High also needed a win after dropping two games to Acadiana and facing a difficult three-game series with Teurlings to close out the week.

The difference between the two teams came down to performances on the mound.

“The difference was the pitching performance by both teams,” said NISH head coach Eli Lewellyn. “Coach (David) Jordan and his guys did a fantastic job, but our guy Thomas Collins had a fantastic night.”

“As a team, we really needed a win in the worst kind of way with where our season was heading. Thomas and our seniors Kennedy (Drexler), Drew (Rogers) and Dravyn (Smith), they all put the team on their backs and contributed to the win in a variety of ways. I’m incredibly proud of them.”

With the game tied at 0-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning, neither team looked capable of capitalizing on the mistakes of the other. With two outs already on the board, it looked like the Yellow Jackets were going to be returning to the dugout with nothing to show yet again, but a ground ball by JB Francis allowed senior Kennedy Drexler to make his way across home plate to break the stalemate.

Lewellyn could be heard motivating his team ahead of the fourth inning, reminding them that they were able to score with two outs and that the team needed to keep their heads held high regardless of the situations they find themselves in.

“It’s a mentality thing,” he said after the game. “One thing that I’ve been concerned with in this program for the last couple of years is guys wanting to concede or give up when things aren’t working out our way. That mentality translates to how we perform as an offense with two outs.”

“I just want them to understand that with two outs, all sorts of good things can still happen for us as a group.”

With the deadlock broken, NISH turned to Collins to make sure that Catholic High wouldn’t have an opportunity to claw their way back into the game.

After adding three additional runs in the fourth inning, the Yellow Jackets had a commanding lead, but after allowing the Panthers to come from behind in their last contest, Lewellyn was still well aware that the game wasn’t over just yet.

The Panthers battled their way to promising positions several times in the late innings, but each time the attacks were thwarted by Collins, who continued to find the strike zone when it mattered most.

“One of the differences between this game and some of the ones that we lost earlier in the season is that an error would happen and things would snowball and get out of control and nobody would step up and get us under control and stop the bleeding,” Lewellyn said. “Tonight, those same mistakes happened but the difference was that we had a variety of different guys who stepped up, but especially Thomas who had a lot of confidence and made things happen. Thomas ended up striking out three hitters with the tying run on second base a couple of times and I’m incredibly proud of him for that.”

CHS coach David Jordan said that he was unhappy with how his team played, especially since they have several opportunities to take the lead against NISH.

“I think it hurts more because I’m looking at kids going to the plate feeling like they’re carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders and it shows,” Jordan said. “In this kind of game, you can’t do that. You can’t go up there thinking ‘I have to get a hit’ because it’s probably not going to happen.”

“I just asked them if it’s been that long since Catholic High baseball has played in big games, where I can’t send guys up there that can handle that type of pressure? Right now, I don’t have them. I have maybe one or two (players) that can get up there and really handle the pressure of critical situations. We had runners on second and third (base) and struck out three times against a guy that really wasn’t overpowering. It was pretty bad.”

Catholic High managed to score one run in the fourth inning and one in the sixth but never looked like taking control of the game.

Kennedy Drexler, Gerald Sonnier, Mason Meyers, Gage Hayes and Drew Rogers all scored one run each for the Yellow Jackets.

Collins pitched all seven innings for the Yellow Jackets, throwing 78 strikes from 111 pitches for 12 strikeouts.

Lewellyn said that, in addition to Collins’ game-winning performance against CHS, there is another benefit to having one pitcher stay in for the entire game.

“One of the advantages of Thomas pitching the whole night is that we have pretty much everyone available for the weekend,” Lewellyn explained. “That puts us in a better position than if we would’ve had to roll out two or three different relief pitchers. Strategically, we will be able to sit down as a coaching staff and make a decision on which way we want to go, but we’re in a much better position thanks to Thomas throwing a complete game tonight.”

Catholic High began their three-game series against Teurlings on Thursday, with Friday’s contest being played at home.

NISH dropped to Central Lafourche on Wednesday. They will play in the Berwick tournament to close out the week before hosting Covenant Christian on Saturday.