Marathon baseball game indicative of rivalries

     And the game played on.
     With just one game in the win-loss column separating the two in the waning days of the District 9-5A baseball title race, Jesuit and Archbishop Rummel crossed bats in another classic confrontation on April 13.
    Rummel had the upper hand over its longtime Catholic League rival after having beaten the Blue Jays, 1-0, in eight innings on March 27.
    So with three games remaining to determine the 2012 champion and the higher playoff seed, the two head coaches pitched their aces. And neither of the two brilliant hurlers wanted to give up the mound without a victory in his pocket.
    Cutting to the chase, after four hours, more than 500 pitches thrown and 89 outs, Jesuit won the battle of attrition, 2-1, before a packed house at John Ryan Stadium.
    The two adversaries have played twice for a total of 24 innings. I’d like to see them face off again, but the next time I’ll make sure I’ve had dinner before the game.
    And that is why these schools attract the masses.
    The outcome was decided in the bottom of the 18th inning when Jesuit’s top hitter and third baseman Spencer Miller drove a shot to left-center field to send home catcher Matt Robért at 10:57 p.m.
    It marked one of the longest games contested by New Orleans high school teams in 96 years of organized play. As a junior at De La Salle, Jesuit head coach Joey Latino remembered playing in a 14-inning game against Jesuit. St. Augustine and Archbishop Shaw were involved in another game that was decided in the 14th inning some years later. There may have been longer games, but I’ve not yet seen one documented.
    During the 16th inning I asked Rummel head coach Nick Monica if he had ever witnessed a marathon such as this. He replied, “I stopped looking at the scoreboard an hour ago.”
    The dominant pitching and defense overshadowed two outstanding hitting teams. Rummel’s Mitch Seward, an LSU signee, threw 154 pitches in 10 innings of work. Gibbs, his Jesuit counterpart and future Tulane Green Wave, went much further.
Marathon pitching
    Through 14 innings and 194 pitches, Gibbs never appeared to tire. After every inning past the seventh, he asked Latino to let him remain in the game. “He wanted to continue past the 15th inning, but I couldn’t let him go any more,” the coach said. He decided that enough was more than enough for his star right-hander.
    But the 1-1 stalemate continued and gave no sign of closure as both right-handers yielded the mound to the teams’ ace relievers, Andrew Mitchell for Jesuit and Andrew Papadopoulos for Rummel.
    The outcome was vital to both schools. By avenging the earlier loss to the Raiders, Jesuit (21-5 and 6-1 in district play) took command of the 9-5A race. The setback put Rummel (19-10, 4-3) a game behind Brother Martin (19-8, 5-2), to whom it lost, 2-1, on April 12 and whom it must play again.
    Jesuit, the reigning Class 5A champion, has beaten Brother Martin twice and will finish the season against a very good Grace King squad (17-5, 4-3), then Chalmette (11-16, 2-5) and West Jefferson (2-16, 0-7).
    When any combination of Jesuit, Rummel and Brother Martin meet in any sport, the encounters attract some of the largest crowds locally – and for good reason. They all play hard in an inherent desire to beat each other and declare they are the best.
    And when Archbishop Shaw, Holy Cross and St. Augustine return to the mix in 2013, Catholic League rivalries will be even more intense.
    In a typical clash between the two, Jesuit managed just six hits off Seward, who struck out 10 Blue Jays against four bases on balls. Rummel had nine hits off Gibbs and Mitchell, but it managed just one run as Gibbs mowed down 13 batters.
    Rummel finally had the upper hand in the top of the 18th inning on a leadoff single by Ross Budinski, followed by an infield hit by Scott Migliore and a walk to Ridge Goodwin. But the Jesuit defense and Mitchell worked their way out of trouble to end the scare.
    The Raiders scored in the first inning and Jesuit answered in the fourth. The 1-1 deadlock continued for nearly 14 innings before it was decided.
     Now add Brother Martin into the District 9-5A championship mix. In three of the four games matching the three long-time adversaries, just one run separated a win from a loss. The only exception was a 7-4 Jesuit victory over Martin on April 10.
    The unofficial April 15 Class 5A power ratings has Jesuit at No. 4, Brother Martin at No. 5, Rummel at No. 10 and St. Paul’s, which has defeated both Martin and Jesuit, at No. 11. Grace King is on the playoff bubble at No. 31.
Races concluding
    With one week to go in the regular season, the archdiocese will be well-represented in the various playoffs by 11 schools.    Here are the seedings for Classes 4A through 1A as of April 15: 4A, Holy Cross (No. 6), Shaw (No. 11) and St. Augustine (No. 27); 3A, St. Charles Catholic (No. 2) and De La Salle (No. 28); 2A, Pope John Paul II (No. 24); and 1A, Archbishop Hannan (No. 20). The top 16 seeds host first-round games.
    Ron Brocato can be reached at [email protected].