Playoff baseball: John Carroll Catholic beats Trinity Christian to reach region final

FORT PIERCE - The John Carroll Catholic High baseball team did not win the game in the first inning, but the Rams set the tone.

Catcher Kaiden Jones started an inning-ending double play to end the top of the first inning, and John Carroll scored two runs in the bottom of the inning in a 5-0 whitewash of Trinity Christian School in the Class 2A-Region 4 semifinals Saturday evening at Bob Gladwin Stadium.

Reaching the regional final for the first time since going to the Final 4 in 2021, the second-seeded Rams (18-11) head to play top-seeded Miami Christian School, a 7-2 winner over Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy, at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Winners of six straight, Trinity Christian (11-13) came out swinging. Micah Herring and Alec Cabrera opened the game with singles. After a fielder’s choice, Jones caught a foul popup near the backstop and fired to second base for the third out.

“I didn’t see it off the bat, but I’ve got my team and my coaches helping me,” said Jones, who is headed to the University of Central Missouri next season.

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As far as nailing the runner at second, Jones said, “It’s all reactive, all the hard work I’ve put in. As soon as I looked up, I saw he was halfway off and saw it was a great chance to make a play like that.”

“That play was just remarkable,” Rams coach David Parra said. “That’s the kind of play you remember when you have a special season, and that’s what this is turning into.”

John Carroll came out just as aggressively at the plate. Taggert Cameron lined a one-out single. Brennan Jones followed with a double. Ryan Cook knocked in a run with a ground ball to short. Cam Weeks had a run-scoring single for a 2-0 lead.

“It’s always nice to play with the lead, without a doubt,” Parra said.

“I just told the guys, sometimes you can lose the game in the first inning,” Trinity Christian coach Miguel Cuello said. “As you know in baseball demons: You don’t score and they come back and score two runs, it’s baseball.”

Colt Miller took it from there. The sophomore right-hander pitched a six-hit, complete game shutout for his third win in seven decisions, undoubtedly his best outing of the season.

“Colt was unbelievable,” Kaiden Jones said. “He was on. He was magical tonight. He was awesome. His slider was working really well. And he was locating his fastball really well. Really good performance by Colt.”

“Colt absolutely saved his best game for the playoffs,” Parra said. “We thought this was a good match-up coming into today. Colt Miller just choked them out every time they had a chance. That’s where it starts and ends.”

“He was better today,” Cuello said of Miller, who pitched four innings against Trinity Christian in a 6-4 John Carroll victory March 12.

The Rams’ offense collected a hit in all six innings. They added a run in the second on a RBI single by leadoff hitter Ayson McIntosh, a run in the third on a Kaiden Jones double and another in the fifth on a run-scoring hit by No. 9 hitter Jaxon Pomar.

“Our kids, this time of year, have really turned it on,” Parra said. “Their at-bats are all tough at-bats. Our lineup, one through nine, is going to compete and battle. Our guys went up aggressive and stayed within what we are trying to do.”

John Carroll now faces the challenge of facing a 20-4 Miami Christian team that has won seven straight and is 13-2 at home. Cameron is expected to get the start for the Rams.

“We’ve got to beat the best if we want to be the best, and there’s no better way to have it than to go play Miami Christian to get a chance to go to the Final 4,” said Parra, who added that with Vero Beach High in the same position Monday, “It’s neat for the Treasure Coast to have two teams with a chance to go to the Final 4.”

Trinity Christian, which starts two eighth-graders and two freshmen, rebounded from a 1-8 start to reach the regionals semifinals.

“If you told me we would be in this spot right now …,” Cuello said. “I knew we would lose some games with the schedule we played at the beginning of the season. The only way they are going to get better is to face the better pitching. We got better at the end.”

Trinity Christian graduates eight of its 15-player roster.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Playoff baseball: John Carroll Catholic beats Trinity Christian to reach region final