Baseball fans in North Texas enjoyed a wonderful week of fodder and exhibition this week. Fans of the repeat American League champion Texas Rangers celebrated the beginning of the team’s spring training, which opened last week in Surprise, Arizona.
The resilient fan base held its breaths when Yu Darvish, Texas’ newest $111.7 million investment, threw for the first time in a 
Rangers uniform in an intra-squad game on Friday.
And, over the weekend, high school baseball fans enjoyed non-district tournaments across the Dallas area. On March 3-5, Jesuit College Prep put on the aptly named Jesuit Classic, playing host to five other schools. Jesuit’s baseball team finished the round-robin tournament with a 3-2 record that includes big shutout wins over Bishop Lynch and Mesquite Poteet.
The Rangers began their campaign against stiff competition, the defending-4A Baseball Champion Mesquite Poteet Pirates. What many expected to be a tough game turned into a blowout, as the Rangers made quick work of Pirates pitchers. Jesuit began its home field tournament in style, winning 10-0 Thursday afternoon in a game that was ended early by a mercy rule.
In the shortened game, Christian Bartholomew ’12, who has committed to play baseball at Wake Forrest, took home the win with five innings of two-hit ball. Jesuit quickly wore down their clearly outmatched opponents with surprising efficiency. Juniors William Hairston and Shea Stine each contributed a double in the winning effort.
“It was pretty great to run-rule them,” admits Hank Tobolka ’12. “They’re the defending 4A state champs, and it was great to start with that.” Tobolka, like most of his teammates, had a great afternoon at the plate, going 1-2 with an RBI single and a sacrifice bunt.
Jesuit wore down the outmatched Pirates, showing their clearly superior conditioning. “Poteet looked really gassed during the game,” said Michael Scanlin ’12, a former baseball player who watched the tournament. “They [Poteet] looked like they didn’t know what they were doing out there. They were really surprised that the all-boys school from Jesuit could be so successful against them!”
On Thursday evening, Jesuit faced its bitter rival Bishop Lynch in their second game of the tournament. The Jesuit-BL matchup, always popular among students from both schools, attracted a large group of fans at Jesuit’s field.
Spectators looked forward to seeing Joe Powell ’12, the top uncommitted high school baseball prospect in the nation, pitch in the game for Jesuit. “I was really excited to see Powell play,” said Scanlin. “He’s one of our aces, along with Christian Bartholomew, the man, C-Bart.”
Powell did not disappoint in the game, which quickly turned in to a pitchers’ duel. Jesuit turned it on late to win the rivalry game 3-0. The ace contributed six shutout innings in the win, beating out Friar pitcher Luke Stephens, who contributed two doubles in a losing effort.
Though winning both games Thursday, the Rangers faltered Friday in their two games. In the first match up against Plano West, Jesuit lost a close game 8-6. Pitcher Ben Wright ’12, who added to the strong offensive day with a double, picked up the loss as the Rangers fell to 2-1 in tournament play.
On Friday night, the Rangers faced arguably the strongest team in the tournament, the Rockwall High School Yellowjackets. For the second straight night, the Rangers turned to their ace Joe Powell, who faltered slightly in the 5-3 loss. The Rangers’ night was highlighted by doubles from Chris Cisneros ’12 and Powell.
With their record evened at 2-2, Jesuit went in to Saturday facing Burlington Centennial. In a hard-fought game, the Rangers once again showed their offensive might, winning their final game of the tournament 8-7. Al Higgins ’13, a Roundup writer, picked up the win, and Lucas Valelly ’12 chipped in a triple in the winning effort.
Scott Weiss ’12, a four-year Jesuit baseball veteran, was pleased especially with his vocal support in the dugout. “When I’m not out there on the mound, I try to be an emotional leader through my actions on the bench vocally,” pontificated Weiss. “When I’m sitting in the dugout, I really try to let the other team hear what I have to say. I like to get a little rowdy, be a little outrageous out there.”
All in all, players were encouraged by the 3-2 performance in the Jesuit Classic. “I liked seeing Joe Powell establish the strike zone with the fastball early,” said Weiss. “I loved to see our guys bring the heat.”
“The tournament made me feel really good,” added Scanlin. “I saw [junior] Grant Hatzmann out there doing well, and also Scotty Weiss was going crazy out there in the dugout.”
Come see the Rangers in action this Wednesday when they open district play against the W.T. White Longhorns.
For the full schedule, see here: http://www.jesuitcp.org/page.aspx?pid=1678
