The Guerin Catholic baseball team held off a big comeback at Lafayette Central Catholic Friday night, beating the Knights 8-6 in the first round of the Catholic Classic.
The Golden Eagles got on the board right away, with Ian Taylor hitting a solo home run in the top of the first inning. In the second inning, AJ Nunley bunted a single to get on base, then Tate Troxell sent him home with a center field homer.
Guerin Catholic poured in five runs in the top of the fourth. Cuinn Morrow scored when Grant Beard reached on error, then Karson Smith’s double brought in Nunley and Troxell. Nolan Ratcliff scored on an error, then Smith scored at the end of the inning to give the Golden Eagles an 8-1 lead. Central Catholic chipped away at the lead during the later innings, but a three-up, three-down seventh finished the game.
Morrow and Nunley each had two hits. Ryan Zimmerman got the pitching win, while Nate Gremelspacher threw four strikeouts in two innings to close the game.
The Golden Eagles are 10-1 and take on South Bend St. Joseph at 1:30 p.m. today at LCC.