Chatard Stuns Cathedral 2-1 to Win City Baseball Crown

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The Cathedral Irish were seeking their eighth consecutive City Tournament baseball title on Thursday night, but it was Bishop Chatard that hoisted the championship trophy at Victory Field.

Behind a stellar complete-game performance by senior Chris Jansen, who had been battling arm problems this season, Chatard upset Class 4A No. 1 Cathedral 2-1 to win the crown.

"Chris has been a workhorse for us," Chatard coach Mike Harmon said. "He had a complete-game shutout in Jasper and against Brebeuf Jesuit, but as far as that type of competition and lineup, he battled. That's what he's capable of doing."

The southpaw outdueled Cathedral ace, Dillon Peters, a Texas recruit, by striking out eight and walking only one hitter as the Irish left four men on base.

Peters was equally as dominant, striking out 15, walking one and allowing only four hits in seven innings.

However, three of those hits came in the top of the sixth as Chatard went up 2-0 with two outs.

"Coming into this game, I thought we were going to win it. Our team has worked hard. Whether or not I was going to pitch, I felt we were going to win," Jansen said.

Clayton Gardner put the rally in motion as he beat out a grounder to third base and later advanced to second on a wild pitch. In the next two at-bats, Daniel and Will Soffera laced an RBI-double and single, respectively, to put the Trojans ahead.

"The Soffera twins strung it together," Harmon said. "We tried to work all week about using the whole park and they went right up the box with it. Those were good."

Earlier this year, Cathedral had little trouble against Chatard, winning 14-3. This time with Jansen keeping the Irish lineup at bay, it came down to the Trojans' bats to step up.

"That's Chatard baseball right there. You have to hustle on every play. We're not going to hit a bunch of home runs," Soffera said. "It's about getting timely hits, beating out grounders and getting the win."

The defenses did the rest as Cathedral (17-2) tried to comeback and tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Nick McCarthy advanced to second with two outs and later scored as right fielder Andrew Welch, misplayed a fly for a two-base error.

Welch, normally a first baseman, was playing right with Andrew Moralez hampered with an elbow injury. Moralez started as the team's designated hitter.

In the next at-bat, Welch redeemed himself, diving to catch the final out of the game off an Austin Sparks fly to short right.

"Welch came back and made a great catch," Harmon said.

The title was Chatard's first since 2003. The Trojans (11-7) won back-to-back city crowns beginning in 2002. Since they have finished runner-up five times during Cathedral's reign.

"In the first game (this year), they got seven runs in the first inning and we walked five guys that game," Harmon said. "You just can't give them extra base runners with walks and errors. We've played them for 12 years since I've been here and every mistake you make they make you pay. That's a good team. We limited our mistakes today. It was a great win."