Pensacola Catholic baseball wins fifth consecutive game by mercy rule after beating Central

The bats were popping.

The runners were scoring.

The fielders were diving.

And the Pensacola Catholic baseball team won over Central in a 15-0 mercy-rule victory after four innings on Wednesday at Richard R. LaBounty Field.

Once the Crusaders got going, it was hard to stop them. A nine-run second inning set the tone for Pensacola Catholic in the abbreviated game. And the hitting became contagious. It was an inning that started with a Vaughn Howard double saw 13 plate appearances from the Crusaders.

No one wanted to be the one to cause the inning to end.

“We sort of caught fire and had quality at-bats. We didn’t swing at too many pitches outside of the zone,” Pensacola Catholic head coach Richard LaBounty said. “We made (Central) throw strikes. When they did throw strikes, we put good swings on the ball.”

What started as a pitcher’s duel in the first inning-and-a-half quickly turned into an offensive thrashing for the Crusaders. The nine-run second inning had six of its runs scored when Pensacola Catholic had two outs.

Central could not get out of the inning.

After batting around the order, and with the Jaguars going to their second pitcher, Dylen Houk forced Rhyland Richards into a groundout to second base. But the damage had been done.

Jackson Kohr his strong outing in the third inning with a one-two-three frame, allowing the Crusaders’ defense to do the work. A flyout to left field caught by Vaughn Howard, and then a pair of groundouts to Gavin Howard and Jalen Moton, kept the shutout alive.

All nine of Pensacola Catholic’s batters made it to the plate again in the bottom of the fourth, and again the offense flourished. Three batters – Moton, Rembert and Brock Clayton – all reached first base by walk, loading the bases.

Colton Guillot knocked in a run off a fielder’s choice-turned-error before Vaughn Howard hit a sacrifice fly. Then Gavin Howard showed off his strength with a two-run bomb of a home run to center field. Parker Grange tacked on an RBI single after that. At that point, Pensacola Catholic led 14-0.

The Crusaders came up just short of the 15-run rule in the third inning with Richards striking out.

Central had some life in the fourth inning with back-to-back singles from Quincy Wilson and Justin Smarr. Kohr regained his composure with a strikeout, then Rembert made an incredible diving catch deep in the infield. The improbable catch caught the Jaguars off guard, and Garrett Gandy – pinch-running for Smarr – was thrown out at first base to end the inning.

Moton started the bottom of the fourth with a double. With the next two batters striking out and grounding out, the Crusaders didn’t give themselves much wiggle room. But Jackson Maddrey drew a walk to push Moton to second base, and then Preseley Moseley smoked a single to right-center field, scoring Moton for the 15-run rule after four innings.

“The last 10 games, we have really been playing well. It continued tonight. We’ve been swinging the bat well,” LaBounty said. “We certainly want to continue what we’ve got going on.”

Central (12-1) suffers its first loss of the 2024 season and returns to action on Tuesday against West Florida Baptist Academy. The Jaguars previously no-hit the Conquerors and won 3-0.

Central head coach Coy Campbell said the rest of spring break will allow the Jaguars “to regroup” after Wednesday’s loss. He hoped the loss to Pensacola Catholic would be beneficial as the season goes on.

“We needed to play someone like this. They’ve got a real good baseball team. … They’re as good as advertised,” Campbell said. “I thought we did a good job overall. The score may not indicate that, and that’s fine. We’ll learn from it, move on and hopefully it’ll make us a better team.”

Pensacola Catholic (13-1) has a quick turnaround with a game at Holmes County on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was postponed due to heavy rainstorms.

“They’re a really good ball club. We’re looking forward to the challenge there,” LaBounty said of Holmes County. “We’re certainly excited.”

Strong pitching and a defense to back it up

Jackson Kohr allowed just three hits in the game, yet never really got into too much danger in four innings. The first hit allowed came from the bat of Justin Smarr in the first inning, but he was caught stealing in the next at-bat after a laser of a throw from Brock Clayton behind the plate.

Quincy Wilson led off the fourth inning with a single, and then Smarr got his second hit of the game in the same frame, putting runners on first and second base. But that incredible diving catch from Rembert with the throw-out to first base prevented any real threat of the Jaguars scoring.

“I didn’t think he was going to get there,” Kohr said of Rembert’s heroics. “But that was a great play.”

Kohr struck out five batters on just 60 pitches. He said there wasn’t anything different about the game – he just had good command and control of his pitches. And his slider has “been working a lot better” for him recently.

“That’s how he’s pitched all year long. He’s been a starter since he was a freshman,” LaBounty said of Kohr. “He’s not overpowering. But he hits his spots extremely well. He doesn’t walk anybody. He makes the other team beat him. He’s shown that all four years he’s been here.”

The other outs were recorded by a suffocating defense that didn’t let much slide. Vaughn Howard recorded a couple of flyouts in left field, while Gavin Howard and Jalen Moton both recorded groundouts.

The defense has been a strength for the Crusaders this season, posting three shutouts in the last four games. They’ve only allowed double-digit runs in one game – a 15-10 loss to Marist (Georgia), the only time Pensacola Catholic has fallen this year.

“I think we’ve got some really good players that enjoy playing with each other. We’ve got good team chemistry. Everybody cheers for everybody. It doesn’t matter who the hero is,” LaBounty said. “Chris Rembert, who’s going to Auburn (University), he proved what kind of player he is. He’s one of the best players to come through here, and we’ve had some good players.”

“It’s a great defense. They work hard every day,” Kohr said. “Whenever I’m pitching with them behind me, there’s so much confidence.”

‘Good hitting becomes contagious’

Offense is something Pensacola Catholic has become accustomed to. In all but three games this year, the Crusaders have put up 10 runs or more. And even in those three games where the Crusaders didn’t cross that threshold, they still came out on top.

But it’s as of late where the bats have been red-hot. And, in Wednesday’s case, no one wanted to be the one to end the inning. Even with two outs in the second, the Crusaders kept the bats flying. Central appeared to get out of the inning after a grounder to second base from Scott Sanderson, but the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag.

From there, Pensacola Catholic just kept going until Richards hit the groundout – seven batters later.

“We certainly got a lot of two-out hits. It wasn’t just one person, of course,” LaBounty said. “It was a rally that just continued. Nobody wanted to be the last out in that inning.”

In total, only six hits were recorded after a handful of errors from the Jaguars. But nine players wound up crossing home plate to score.

“It’s electric. We have so many key contributors to our team, from one through nine. They can mash. It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound,” Gavin Howard said. “Our team has confidence that we can hit it.”

‘This one will definitely benefit us’

Central found itself in a situation it hadn’t been in the first 12 games of the season: trailing.

Up until Friday, the Jaguars had only given runs up in three games, and in the other nine, they took moderate to large leads before surrendering a run.

“It helps us because our guys needed to be in a situation like this. We hadn’t been behind all season,” Campbell said. “We fall behind 9-0 after the inning, and nine runs is a little bit different than 2-0 or 3-0.”

Campbell said a game against a team like Pensacola Catholic – which was ranked No. 12 in the state in the first FHSAA rankings on Tuesday – will help the Jaguars in the long run, as the season continues. Central has 10 games scheduled through the month of April to close out the regular season.

“This one will definitely benefit us,” Campbell said. “This is going to be a building stone. Maybe we’ll look back three weeks from now and say, ‘Hey, that Catholic game really turned y’all around and got things rolling the right way.’ I’m hoping that’s what happens.”

Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Catholic baseball wins against Central for 10th straight win