It’s the bottom of the 7th inning. Extra innings. The team had overcome a five-run lead to tie the game, only to go back and forth with the opponent, who reached out to a 14-12 lead after the top of the 7th. Two runners on, one out. Kyle Muller ’16, bat in hand, steps up to the plate, aware of the dire circumstances that stand before him. As a three-year Varsity veteran, he knows the team is looking to him for some strong leadership and initiative. With all this in mind, Kyle steps up to the plate. The pitcher winds up. Kyle zeros in on the pitch and swings the bat as hard as he can. Suddenly, a loud “CRACK” rings throughout Wright Field. Immediately, Kyle knows what had just happened. The ball sails like a rocket over the pitcher, over the outfielders, and eventually over the fence. A walk-off three-run homer for Kyle. He rounds the bases as his teammates go absolutely crazy with excitement as they wait to congratulate him at home plate.
The above depiction was one of the many highlights found in the Jesuit Ranger Baseball team’s opening tournaments, starting the season off strong with a 4-2-1 record at the Bryan/College Station Tournament on February 25th-27th, and then continued its dominance again with a 4-2-1 record at the Jesuit Classic tournament. The team was ecstatic to get the season off to such a strong start and began to find its feet with these opening games. Here is a closer look at the games in each tournament:
First, on Thursday, February 25th, the Rangers opened the 2016 season by traveling to Bryan/College Station for a tournament held at Bryan high school. The first game of the day saw the Rangers square off against Klein H.S., and Jesuit was able to handle its opponent, securing a 3-1 victory to begin the season. Muller had a strong performance on the mound, striking out nine, while senior Jared Kengott went 3-for-3 with an RBI. Later that day, Jesuit faced a tough College Station high school team, and couldn’t overcome the strong overall performance from its opponent, dropping the game 0-3. Junior pitcher JJ Montenegro learned from the loss, commenting that “we are going to have to come together and do the little things like small ball to help us succeed and reach our expectations.”
On the next day, Friday, February 26th, Jesuit seemed to have the upper hand in both games, annihilating both opponents, scoring in the double digits. First up was Huntsville H.S., and, led by a strong performance from pitcher Nic Colombo ’17, the Rangers blew the other team out with an 11-2 win. In the next game that day, the Rangers faced Bryan H.S. and this time performed so strongly that the run rule was called, as they beat Bryan 13-2 in 5 innings. Muller hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field in the 2nd inning, and Pete Hamrick’s strong pitching performance helped the Rangers pull out a win.
Finally, on Saturday, February 27th, the Rangers took on Kempner H.S. and Rudder H.S. at Rudder H.S. to finish the tournament. Jesuit struggled in its first game against Kempner, as the two teams fought back and forth over the course of ten innings before a tie was officially declared. Alex Lengyel ’17 and Mark Ready ’17 provided the bats that allowed the Rangers to stay in the fight, never giving up. In the final game of the tournament, the Rangers were able to beat a tough Rudder H.S. team 7-3, highlighted by senior Connor Lynch’s incredible relief pitching performance, coming in at the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded for Rudder and getting all three outs to secure the win. It was an incredible end to a great first tournament.
Describing his thoughts from the tournament, Montenegro noted “it’s always good to get games under our belt before we start district. It helps build team chemistry and trust between us all because we know which guys will pull through in tight situations.”
The following week, the Rangers hosted their very own tournament, named The Jesuit Classic, held at Wright Field, spanning March 3rd-5th. This was the first time most of the home fans had gotten to see their team play, aside from preseason scrimmages. However, despite their best intentions, Jesuit did not get off to a strong start on Thursday, March 3rd, giving up 8 total runs over two extra innings to drop the opening match to the Plano West Wildcats. The loss stunned the team, who seemingly had the game in the bag going into the seventh and final inning, but did not entirely dash their hopes as they quickly bounced back for a game against Richardson Berkner that night. This time, Jesuit came out firing on all cylinders and destroyed the Rams 11-0, highlighted by junior pitcher Heath VanKirk’s complete game shutout that forced the run rule, ending the game at the top of the 5th innings. VanKirk commented on the team’s performance, saying “it was nice to come out and play a good game as a team after the debacle against Plano West.”
On Friday, March 4th, the Rangers squared off against private school rival Bishop Lynch, drawing many spectators in the form of students and faculty from Jesuit, enjoying some good baseball on the last day of school before spring break. To the delight of their fans, the Rangers gave the Friars a thorough beating, once again pulling the run rule in a 12-1 victory that ended in the middle of the 5th inning. A myriad of Ranger batters contributed to the win, but the highlight goes to Kyle Muller for wowing fans by smacking a towering home run that went over the left field fence and out of the ballpark. The Rangers carried this momentum into the night game against Lovejoy H.S., however, the team could not pull out a win, tying Lovejoy 9-9. Jesuit had an 8-6 lead going into the fifth inning, highlighted by another Muller homer and a tough squeeze bunt play by Hamrick that scored Bryce Bonner ’16; however, the team could not hold onto the lead and left the game with a tie. Montenegro was proud of his team’s valor, saying “we just can’t get down on ourselves if teams come out striking early and putting up runs. We have to chip away throughout the game and make the plays that give us a chance to win.”
The last day of the tournament, Saturday, March 5th, proved to be an exciting one for the Rangers, as they won both games against Austin Westlake and Rockwall, the latter won in an exciting fashion. Jesuit faced Austin Westlake, and swiftly dealt with them, manhandling the opponent 11-3, resulting from a stellar pitching performance from multi-sport athlete and Stanford commit Jacob Palisch ’17, who struck out eight in his season debut. Once again, Muller cranked out another home run, and Jared Bond ’16 also hit a homer, providing a powerful offense that led to the win. However, the final game of the tournament ended up being the best one by far, as the Rangers squared off against a tough Rockwall Yellow Jackets team. This game was exciting as both teams battled back and forth to the end. The Yellow Jackets stunned Jesuit with a 6 run first inning, but the Rangers never doubted themselves and fought back until they gained the lead in the fourth inning, in which they scored seven runs, highlighted by, you guessed it, Kyle Muller’s grand slam home run. That definitely motivated the team to fight. However, as the team faced their final chance to win the game, with two runners on and two runs down, Muller stepped up to the plate and put the team on his back by doing what he does best: hitting dingers. His walk-off home run sent his teammates and the crowd into a frenzy, ending the long game with a 15-14 victory. Montenegro echoed the team’s enthusiasm, saying “we wouldn’t want anyone else up at bat in the situation against Rockwall.”
After two exciting tournaments, be sure to keep up with The Roundup as the baseball team heads into district play!
