JOURNAL SPORTS
Visiting Evangel surprised third-seeded John Curtis in Metairie Thursday in the opener of their best-of-3 Select Division I baseball series, while Loyola salvaged a split of its homefield doubleheader to set up a winner-take-all Game 3 today, and Calvary blanked Fisher to move forward to a quarterfinal series next weekend.
Evangel, the 14th seed (18-14), took the lead in the fourth inning and held off the Patriots (28-7). Game 2 is today at 4, with an if necessary third game following if Curtis evens the series.
After losing the first game 3-2 and falling behind 3-1 in the second game of its best-of-three series against 12th-seeded Archbishop Shaw Thursday, the Loyola Flyers rallied for an 8-3 win to send their Select Division II battle to a deciding game this afternoon.
The fifth-seeded Flyers scored runs on two wild pitches to tie in the fourth inning — both with two outs — then took the lead in the fifth when Jake Black’s two-out double scored Caden Pryor. Kingston Adams added a two-run single in the sixth to extend the lead.
Adams, Grayson Minnis and Black each had two hits. Luca Golden (6-0) was the winning pitcher, striking out five.
The Flyers (20-14) are scheduled to meet Shaw (13-19) in Game 3 today at 5 p.m. at Cicero Field.
Calvary, the third seed in Select Division III, shut out the visiting Gators for the second straight day. Garrett Lee’s steal of home accounted for the final run.
Calvary improved to 23-13 while No. 14 Fisher finished 22-12. The Cavs will host a quarterfinal series next weekend.
Thursday’s regional round scores
Select Division I
Evangel 3, John Curtis 1 (Evangel leads series, 1-0)
Select Division II
Archbishop Shaw 3, Loyola 2 (Game 1)
Loyola 8, Archbishop Shaw 3 (Game 2)
Select Division III
Calvary 3, Fisher 0 (Calvary wins series, 2-0)
Regional round schedule (games today unless noted)
Non-Select Division I
No. 22 St. Amant (20-16) at No. 6 Benton (27-5-2), 6:00 (Game 1; Game 2 Saturday, noon; if necessary Game 3 follows)
No. 19 Haughton (22-14) at No. 2 Sam Houston (26-8), 6:00 (Game 1; Game 2 Saturday 11 a.m.; if necessary Game 3 follows)
Select Division I
No. 9 Captain Shreve (21-13 at No. 8 Alexandria Senior High (21-9), 6:00 (Game 1; Game 2 Saturday 2:00, if necessary Game 3 follows)
No. 14 Evangel (18-14) at No. 3 John Curtis (28-7), 4:00 (Game 2; if necessary, Game 3 follows)
Select Division II
No. 12 Shaw (13-19) at No. 5 Loyola (20-14), 5:00 (Game 3)
Non-Select Division IV
No. 22 Plain Dealing (12-15) at No. 11 Delcambre (13-16), 6:00 (single elimination)