By Ron Brocato
Brother Martin’s next crusade in the quest for a berth in the LHSAA’s Select Division I baseball tournament comes on Thursday, April 30, when Coach Jeff Lupo’s top-ranked charges host No. 8 seed Alexandria at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium. The first pitch will be thrown at 6:30 p.m.
The two will compete in a best-of-three series, with the second game, also at Kirsch-Rooney, set for Friday, May 1, at 6:30. If a third game is needed, it will take place on Saturday, May 2, at noon. The series winner will move on to the semifinal round to meet the winner of the No. 5 Rummel vs. No. 4 St. Thomas More contest.
The semifinal and championship rounds will be played at McMurry Park in Sulphur, May 14-16.
The Crusaders’ 31-5 record is the product of a season in which Lupo’s squad displayed a combination of outstanding hitting with solid pitching by the underclass-laden talent. That was evident when the team won its last five regular-season games, then swept Pineville in blowout playoff displays, 12-0, 11-1.
Lupo said, “The team is focused on playing well, which the Crusaders have been doing in the crucial games leading toward the state tournament.”
“My message (to the players) is, regardless of what the outside world sees of our opponent, I’m more focused on how well we play,” the coach said. “And in the last series, I thought we played very well, only making one error in the 14 innings we played."
“And for the pitchers to be as dominant as they were in the strike zone was a very good thing. And the consistent pressure that we were able to apply throughout the lineup was pleasing. We had a bunch of guys with extra base hits, able to drive in runs, and that balance was a good thing.”
The Crusaders were totally in control against Pineville, the No. 17 seed with a 14-20 record that belied the Rebels’ ability. But pitcher Drake Amedee ‘26 was able to silence the Pineville bats in a no-hit performance, and he threw just 69 pitches in doing so. The visitors’ only run in the third inning was unearned.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders hit with proficiency, smashing 14 base hits and scoring runs in five of the six innings of play. The coup de grace was a four-run explosion at the top of the sixth that accounted for the final tally.
“The guys were able to pick each other up. They really played well,” Lupo said. “I told the pitchers that I thought this was the best series they’ve thrown in a month, and our hitters made consistently hard contact.”
Just once did the coach have a degree of consternation during the fourth inning when Rebels’ batter Dee Bowie hit a shot to deep left-center field that appeared to be going for extra bases. But centerfielder Brady McCluskey ‘27, racing toward the wall with his back to the infield, made a spectacular horizontal catch to end the threat.
“It seems like the wind had been blowing in for the last month at Kirsch-Rooney, and that’s strange this time of the year because it’s usually blowing out,” Lupo observed.
“When (the Pineville batter) hit it, it was like, okay, we have our guy there who’s going to get it. But then it became surreal, as though time stood still, because you see Brady turn his back and run as he’s been coached to do. Then he lays out and catches it.
“Then I look up and see the wind, which was blowing in, had stopped. The flags in the outfield were lying straight down, which allowed the ball to carry farther. But Brady made a clean, great catch, rolled over and held the ball up for everyone to see,” Lupo said. That play saved Amedee’s no-hitter, a rare occurrence in playoff competition.
“On the next pitch, Bronson Leaumont ‘26 snagged a line drive. Then after that, Drake settled down, and his pitching dominated the last two innings,” the coach added.
McCluskey, arguably the best hitter in a hard-hitting lineup, added two hits to his defensive gem, and reached base four times. But more importantly, every player in the lineup had a base hit, which sends a strong message to the competition to come.
