Baseball
O’Dea baseball beats Bishop Blanchet twice in one week
O’Dea claimed two more big wins over Metro-League wins over Blanchet, but how are they setting themselves up for the postseason?
For the second time this week, the O’Dea Fighting Irish boys baseball team beat Bishop Blanchet. On Wednesday, the Irish grinded out a 1-0 victory, but this time a much more comfortable 6-0 away win on Friday, April 26th at Lower Woodland Park. The win secured O’Dea’s top spot in the Seattle Metro League Conference and sets them up to play the winner of Blanchet-Seattle Prep in the second round of the Metro-League playoffs.
Leading the way for the Fighting Irish on Friday night was senior Davis Downer went 2 for 3 at the plate, with a double, three RBIs, and two stolen bases. O’Dea junior Jordan Holloway, who has committed to play for the University of Washington (@JordanHoll28) went 2 for 2 at the plate, with 1 run scored, 1 RBI, 2 walks, and 1 stolen base. O’Dea senior Basil Hendrix pitched 6 innings and earned the win, giving up three hits, zero earned runs, 2 walks, and a whopping 11 strike outs.
The Bishop Blanchet boys baseball team lost to O’Dea earlier in the week on Wednesday, when the Irish grinded out a gritty 1-0 win. Wednesday’s game was O’Dea’s “Senior Night.” The team celebrated with a taco truck and party. On Wednesday, Blanchet Juniors, Calvin Hanson (#3) and JT Hawkins (#9) were among the pitchers for the Bears. Owen Fortune (#21) played first base. Wednesday’s game was played at Bannerwood Sports Park in Bellevue, Washington on April 24th at 4pm.
Blanchet is sitting 9th in the Seattle Metro League Conference and has a 3.0 RS (runs scored average). This is 0.4 above Roosevelt who are 8th in the league standing. Blanchet have a .1 run differential average and Roosevelt has a -2.7 run differential average. Blanchet plays Seattle Prep in the first of the postseason games on Wednesday, May 1st at Steve Cox Memorial Park at 4 pm. The winner of that game will play on Saturday, May 4th against O’Dea, who are seeded first in the conference.
O’Dea boys top the Metro League standing with 13 wins and 3 losses. O’Dea looks good on all stats, including a 5.1 run differential average. O’Dea plays a non-league game on Monday, April 29th against Mercer Island at 7:15 at Island Crest Park. Prior to the 2024 spring baseball season, Sports Illustrated writer Todd Milles ranked O’Dea third in the state out of all the 3A Washington baseball teams, based on past performance and conversations with coaches.