By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

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INDIANAPOLIS – Cathedral’s mound corps came through for a second consecutive day as the 4A No. 4 Irish scored an 11-1, five-inning win Wednesday over host Park Tudor. 

Twenty-four hours after a 1-0 shutout victory over Columbus East, Cathedral’s Nick Eaton, Jack Phillips and Jack Myers combined for a two-hitter against Park Tudor. 

Eaton pitched perfect ball for the first two innings and Phillips retired all six batters he faced in the third and fourth.  Coach Rich Andriole’s hurlers faced 16 batters, one over the minimum.   

In the bottom of the fifth, Park Tudor’s Kyle Ecklerle greeted Myers with a single to break up the perfect game.  Eckerle took second on a wild pitch, went to third on Trace Arbuckle’s base hit and scored on an infield out. 

The game ended on a short-to-second-to-first double play by Grant Spicer, Jared Poland and Eaton, who moved to first base after his stellar pitching performance. 

Cathedral scored once in the first and again in the second before erupting for nine runs off three Panther pitchers in the fifth.  

Eaton, Nick Andriole and Erik Drehs led the Irish assault with two hits apiece.  Drehs, Cathedral’s senior right fielder, stroked a pair of ground-rule doubles in the decisive fifth inning.  

Drehs and Poland, a sophomore second baseman, both finished with two runs batted in.  

Afterwards, Rich Andriole explained why Eaton came out after two perfect frames.  “Whether we were winning or losing, he was going two innings,” Andriole said.  “The plan was to get him some work tonight in preparation for Saturday.” 

The Irish play a doubleheader on the road Saturday with St. Xavier of Louisville, Ky.  

Andriole praised the work of his pitching staff in Tuesday’s win over Columbus East.  “Will Conway started and went five.  He’s a senior, he’s pitched for a couple of years now, and he did a terrific job.  And Trey Craig, who’s also a senior, came in and threw the sixth and the seventh.    

“Our pitching last night was terrific,” Andriole continued.  “Our defense last night was terrific.  It was a great game.  Columbus East is a terrific team.” 

If the performances by Conway, Craig, Eaton and Phillips are any indication, pitching appears to be Cathedral’s strong suit.   

“We have some depth on the mound,” said Andriole.  “It probably is our strength.  We’re trying to get every other facet to catch up.”     

Pete Cava is the author of Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players: A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014, now available from McFarland Publishers