Augusta Christian blanks Cardinal Newman, wins SCISA 4A state baseball championship

Cardinal Newman extended the season as long as they could, but the Cardinals ran out of steam in the third and deciding game of the SCISA Class 4A state championship series.

Augusta Christian claimed an 8-0 victory Thursday night to claim its second straight title, winning both on Lexington High’s home field.

“These guys battled all year. There were so many positive moments,” Augusta Christian coach Austin Robinson said. “These guys will just fight. From the end of the game (Wednesday) night, we just have to win one pitch at a time. Win every inning and the rest will take care of itself.”

The Cardinals finished the first year under Robert Hendrix, a former Lexington assistant, with a 21-9-1 record. The team gathered in left field after the final out and while there was disappointment, that doesn’t diminish what they accomplished.

“All you can ask is to give yourself a chance in the last game of the year and we were there,” Hendrix said. “This time of year, you need some breaks to go your way and the breaks didn’t go our way. That’s not to take anything from them. They’re a super talented group. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys and what they did all season.”

Augusta Christian (19-13) chipped away against the Cardinals pitching staff that was going to be thin from the jump. The Lions scored three runs in the first and that is all they would need behind the pitching of Santiago Pacheco and Austin Fox.

Pacheco was particularly effective, tossing 5 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball. He walked two, hit three batters and had a base runner reach on a wild pitch on a third strike. Fox allowed the first hit to Alvin Murray with one out in the top of the sixth and finished off the two-hit shutout.

The win was gratifying for Pacheco. He had a costly error in the Game 2 loss to Cardinal Newman.

“Baseball is a game of failure but to be successful, you have to fail. This feels amazing,” Pacheco said. “I can’t believe it honestly. This is like a dream for me.”

The Lions scored on an error, and two-out singles from Eric Doyon and Fox for a 3-0 lead after one inning. They added to the lead when Luca Perriello homered to center field in the second. Jonah Shipes added a solo shot in the fourth before Ethan Duckworth added a two-run double that stretched the lead to 7-0 after four innings.

W: Santiago Pacheco. L: Isaac Yarnall. Hitters: AC – Pacheco 2-4; Eric Donyon HR; Jonah Shipes 2-2, HR. CN – Jeb Britt 1-2; Alvin Murray 1-2.