In a rematch of the heated “Tollway Series” from last year, the Jesuit Rangers baseball team overcame a determined Highland Park Scots team to win a thrilling series, playing all three games to edge out a victory. The Rangers’ pitching staff dominated the three games, including a jaw-dropping no-hitter by Jacob Palisch ’17 on Thursday night, and then a strong performance from Heath VanKirk ’17 on Saturday to clinch the series. Here is a closer look at each game from the series:
On Thursday, May 19th, before a sellout crowd of 500 people at Scotland Yard, the Rangers faced the Highland Park Scots for the first time since their meeting in the playoffs last year. As Highland Park had also recently lost the lacrosse state championship to Jesuit, they played with a chip on their shoulder. However, Stanford commit Palisch made sure that Jesuit would continue its dominance over the Scots and did so by throwing a no-hitter in front of Highland Park’s own crowd, winning the game 4-0. In the process, the lefty also threw a whopping fifteen strikeouts, only allowing one walk to the Scots. The Rangers’ bats did not let their starting pitcher down as the offense produced four runs on seven hits, highlighted by senior Jared Kengott’s home run to kick start a strong third inning that scored three runs in total.
Palisch noted that many factors played into his ability to have a great game, saying “It’s really hard to narrow any one thing down to the reason. I really liked the mound they had, it allowed for me to throw straight downhill. I felt really good up there, but I had a lot of confidence because of my team. I knew they had my back no matter what happened, and when you know that, it takes all the pressure off.”
Poised to take the sweep in front of a home crowd, Jesuit returned to Wright Field on Friday, May 20th. However, despite senior Kyle Muller’s strong effort on the mound, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out ten Scots, the Rangers lost the game in extra innings 4-2. For the majority of the game, neither team was able to score any runs, until Highland Park was able to get on the board in the fifth inning. Facing a loss in the bottom of the seventh inning, which was to be the final inning, Jesuit rallied to score a run due to junior Mark Ready’s judicious baserunning and a deep sacrifice fly by Kengott to score Ready. Since the game was tied 1-1, it headed into extra innings. However, the Scots rallied to score three runs pulling their lead to 4-1. Once again facing a loss, the Rangers too rallied, highlighted by a double from Bryce Bonner ’16 and an RBI from Ready. However, Jesuit could not muster enough offensive strength to keep the rally going, and lost the game 4-2.
With their backs against the wall, facing playoff elimination, the Rangers traveled to Prosper high school for the final game against Highland Park. With their three main pitchers fatigued, Coach Brian Jones turned to seldom-used junior Heath VanKirk to start the game. VanKirk rose to the occasion and pitched a fantastic game for the Rangers, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out seven Scots. While VanKirk kept the Scots’ scoring to a minimum, the Rangers’ offense reciprocated by scoring three runs to boost their lead past the Scots. Will Guzman ’17, a designated hitter who did not see any action in the first two games of the series, was given the opportunity to take the DH spot on the lineup, and he too rose to the occasion, hitting two doubles that scored two Jesuit runs. Pete Hamrick ’16 also played a major role in the game, scoring a run and hitting for an RBI.
VanKirk complimented the team’s defense for playing well, saying “In a high pressured game, you can’t worry about the stakes. Instead, you just have to focus on throwing strikes and trusting your defense to back you up, which is exactly what they did.”
Looking forward, Palisch commented that the most important factor to advancing in the next round is “Team. There’s no one person that makes or breaks this team, the only way we can win is together. It’s going to take everyone pulling together to keep succeeding. That’s the way we got here and that’s how we’ll move on.”
Although there will not be any games played at home, be sure to come out and support your Jesuit Rangers baseball team as they face Oak Ridge, a team Jesuit beat in the playoffs last year, at Dallas Baptists University on Friday, May 27th.
