St. Patrick’s Trey Kopszywa hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Fighting Irish a 4-3 win over the Resurrection Eagles on Saturday.
The seesaw battle between the 3A Fighting Irish and the defending 1A state champions unfolded on St. Patrick’s campus in Biloxi.
John Hay started the St. Patrick seventh with a line-drive single to left field. Jacob Alexander singled and courtesy runner Chaz Byers advanced to third, with Alexander going to second.
Resurrection elected to intentionally walk Bennett Rimes to load the bases. Kopszywa then launched a flyball deep enough to left for Byers to tag up and score the winning run.
“We played as a team today,” said a joyful Hay. “I mean, we had a bad night last night, but today we came out focused and ready to play. It was a good win.”
Resurrection took an early lead when Justin San Miguel singled to center to start the game. After a Luke Schnoor walk, Trace Tingle lined a double to left, scoring San Miguel and advancing Schnoor to third. Haydn Porter earned the next RBI by knocking in Schnoor, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead after the first.
“We wanted to do a few things in the game today, but it just didn’t work out for us,” said Resurrection coach Aaron Frederic. “We didn’t get the timely hitting we needed. St. Patrick’s has a good ballclub. They managed to put the ball in play more than we did. We don’t feel too bad about it because we have district play coming this week and we look forward to it.”
St. Patrick scored runs in the second and third to tie the game at 2. In the second inning, Kopszywa reached on an error and made it to third with a little help from the Eagles’ misplays. He scored on a groundball fielder’s choice by Andrew Lowery. In the third, Hay scored when Kopszywa drew a walk with the bases loaded.
Resurrection took its second and final lead when San Miguel led off the fifth with a walk. After a Schnoor lineout, Tingle lined a ball to right, advancing San Miguel up 90 feet.
Porter hit one to left, resulting in a double play, but San Miguel scored on a ball that got away. On the same play, Tingle was thrown out at third, ending the inning with the Eagles leading 3-2.
St. Patrick pitcher Chandler Marsland picked up the win, scattering five hits, giving up three runs, striking out four, and walking five.
St. Patrick tied it at 3 in the bottom of the fifth after Hay led off with a single to left and scored when Alexander doubled on a hard groundball to left. That led to the triumphant seventh inning.
Alexander finished the game 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. Hay was 2-for-2 with a walk and three runs scored.
Tingle went 2-for-2 for Resurrection with two RBIs and a walk.
Schnoor pitched three innings for the Eagles, giving up only one hit and one earned run with four walks and three strikeouts.
Michael Decoteau took the loss, giving up six hits and two earned runs.
