Central Catholic baseball wins first game in vital series against Sandy
Published 9:02 pm Thursday, May 1, 2025
Sam Smith (Staff photo: Austin White)
Jake Pachmayr (Staff photo: Austin White)
Spencer Ames (Staff photo: Austin White)
Ryan Davis (Staff photo: Austin White)
Ryan Davis (Staff photo: Austin White)
With first place in the Mt. Hood Conference on the line, Central Catholic High School baseball made the obvious choice to start on the bump against Sandy on May 1 at Walker Stadium.
The lone freshman on the roster in Sam Smith.
Smith has been lights out in his first season of high school ball, entering the game with a 1.20 ERA in 23.1 innings pitched this season.
And the freshman leaves the game with a 0.92 ERA after throwing a complete game shutout, giving up only five hits and one walk while striking out 10.
The win moves the Rams and Pioneers into a tie at 8-1 in Mt. Hood play with game two set for 5 p.m. Friday at Sandy.
“Some days I come out and my arm feels a little rough, but today I came out and even before I warmed up I was feeling really good,” Smith said. “My approach this year has been to throw strikes because I’ve had a hard time with that in the past, not overthrow at all. Today it worked out, threw strikes, got outs and my teammates helped me a lot with great defense behind me.”
Smith set the tone to open the game, striking out the Sandy (14-3, 8-1 MHC) side in the top half of the first with a mix of inside and outside fastballs.
Central Catholic (13-3, 8-1 MHC) didn’t respond in the bottom half, and the Pioneers came back tough in the top of the second by getting runners to second and third with only one out.
Sandy put on a squeeze, but the bunt attempt sailed a little too high in the air and allowed Rams first baseman Wyatt Brown to catch it while falling to the ground.
Still, the senior was able to turn to third and make the throw from his bottom to double-off the Pioneers and get Central Catholic out of the jam.
“Wyatt is a super good first baseman,” Smith said. “I thought he could get there, he came in and made a great play, threw it from his butt to third base. That was awesome, I was super hyped because that would have been a run for them.”
The Rams rode the momentum from the defensive play with Matsen Saruwatari starting off with a walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Ryan Davis.
With two outs, Jake Pachmayr pushed a single to left field that allowed Saruwatari to score from second, and was ultimately the only run Central Catholic needed.
Sandy only got two more base runners in the next three innings thanks to a single and an error. Smith was simply in the zone and mowing down any threats the No. 3-ranked team in the OSAAToday coaches poll in Sandy tried to create.
“It’s one of those things that, at times as a coach, you have to temper your astonishment with how good (Smith) is because he still needs somebody to guide him and teach him,” Rams head coach Justin Barchus said. “You can see his teammates love him and he’s just a competitor. The moment wasn’t overwhelming, it hasn’t been overwhelming for him the whole time.”
The Rams provided some breathing room in the bottom of the fifth when Cole Thomas walked, stole second and scored on an error on a throw to first.
Brown and Saruwatari reached via a single and a walk, and Davis got his reward after sacrificing earlier in the game. This time up, Davis launched a ball over the left field fence for a three-run home run, the first home run of his baseball career which made it 5-0 Rams.
“That’s my dog, (Davis has) had a really good year, he’s been hitting really well and it was his first high-school home run,” Smith said. “I was really happy for him, that was an awesome moment.”
“(Davis) is as hard of a worker as anybody, he’s a quiet kid and teammates love him,” Barchus said. “Probably the most underrated and unnoticed three-year starter at shortstop for a major program in the state, just because he’s a quiet kid and goes about his business. … I’m happy for him, he works so hard and he’s such a great teammate.”
Sandy applied some more pressure in the final two innings with its back against the wall, getting runners to first and second with one out in the sixth and leading off the seventh with a single.
But in both cases, Smith came right back with a strikeout to get things rolling and ultimately finished with 10 for the game and seven clean innings.
“(Smith) is still a kid, he has moments of being a 14-15 year old, but he recovers and learns from it and doesn’t come back with the same approach expecting a different result,” Barchus said. “Didn’t have his best stuff in the last two innings and just gritted it out and found a way to get outs.”
Having 13 seniors and Smith being the only freshman, it could have been easy for Smith to feel a little bit on the outs.
Instead, the team has embraced the freshman phenom and is riding on his breakout 2025 season.
“Took a little bit to get to know them all throughout the winter workouts and practices, but I love this group of guys,” Smith said. “On the field, it doesn’t even feel like I’m a freshman, I’m just brothers with these guys.”
Game two in the series will be at Sandy’s place, providing a new challenge for the Rams riding a five-game win streak.
The Rams close the season with two games apiece against David Douglas and Nelson before a new twist in the conference this season. The top five teams will play each other one more time, to help determine the league champ.
Barchus said if the team continues to play within themselves and stick to their identity, good things will happen against Sandy and in any series coming up.
For Smith, he wants to keep feeling the energy from his guys as the season starts to wind down.
“The dugout energy is immaculate right now,” Smith said. “We’ve been winning a lot, which helps, but the team morale has been really good. Hitting, pitching, we’ve been really clicking and I think it’s because of the team morale.”
