Central baseball coach Leo McClure said senior pitcher Jacob Leblanc will have plenty to tell his grandchildren about the one-hit shutout he threw, coupled with his game-winning hit, in one District 4-5A outing.
Leblanc, a Northwestern State commitment, shut out Zachary over six innings and delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 2-0 victory Saturday at Central.
“I told him when he’s 65, tell your grandkids about that game,” McClure said. “If they tell you it didn’t happen, and if I’m still alive, call me and I’ll confirm it.”
Central (16-7, 4-1 4-5A) swept its two-game series with Zachary (15-12, 3-2) and has won five of its past six games. The Wildcats are a game in back of league-leading Catholic High (27-2, 5-0).
“That’s what the game boiled down to,” Zachary coach Jacob Fisher said of Leblanc’s key hit. “Who was going to get the big hit? They were able to get it and we were unsuccessful.”
Leblanc (5-1) and Zachary starter Talan Wallace were locked in a scoreless duel into the bottom of the sixth.
Wallace allowed a leadoff single to Central’s Kyle Veal, who was 2 for 3, and Grayden Harris was hit by a pitch.
Second baseman Sawyer Seguin came on in relief of Wallace and Cole Guidroz sacrificed both runners followed by an infield pop-up. Jessie Lord drew a 12-pitch walk to load the bases and Leblanc, who singled in his previous at-bat, drove a 1-0 pitch up the middle for the game-winning runs.
“Hitting’s contagious,” Leblanc said. “We’ve got runners on and basically, I went up there to score the runner any way I had to. I shortened my stroke, thought middle away and let my barrel do the work.”
Kade Furr moved from second base to the mound to replace Leblanc and worked a perfect seventh inning, including a diving catch from Lord in right to cap the victory. The Wildcats also received outstanding defensive plays from Reece Tillman in center field in the third with a runner on third, and catcher Cooper Austin with a sliding grab near the wall in foul territory behind home for the first out with runners at second and third.
Leblanc stranded seven runners, including three in scoring position. The only hit he allowed was to Seguin in the first, and he walked a batter an inning for seven overall and struck out seven, throwing 60 of his 103 pitches for strikes.
“He’s had a big year in that nobody really knew about Jacob until this year,” McClure said. “He started to hit the high 80s with his fastball and once he found himself, and a college showed some interest, I think it changed his whole senior year.”