Kyle Muller ’16 calmly struts up to the plate, confident that he can nail any pitch out of the park. The opposing pitcher anxiously sweats, knowing that Muller is one of the most dangerous high school baseball players in the state. He throws his best pitch as fast as he can, but it doesn’t matter; Muller nails it out of the park and wins the game with a walk off home run.
The Jesuit Ranger baseball team played in the annual Highland Park Classic on March 10-12th, 2016, facing five different teams: Prosper, The Woodlands, Richland, Prosper again, Belton, and Sachse.
In the first game of the Highland Park Classic, Jesuit faced the Prosper Eagles, putting ace Kyle Muller ’16 (2-0) on the mound. Muller pitched a complete game 3-hitter, lasting seven innings and only allowing one run. Kyle continued to best the Eagles at the plate as he went 3-3 with 2 home runs. Pete Hamrick ’16 also performed well against the Eagles, smashing a double en route to a 2-4 day.
Throughout the game, two of the Rangers bats were quite excellent. However later that day, the Rangers fell to the Woodlands in a 7-2 loss with JJ Montenegro ’17 on the mound and Wyatt Hasson ’17 as the relief, as the only hitting production the Rangers saw came from junior Alex Lengyel, who had one of the teams’ two hits as well knocking in all two of the Rangers runs. Also, Pete Hamrick’s hot bat crushed a triple in his 1-2 night.
On the second day of the tournament, the Rangers rallied behind great pitching by the 2-0 Pete Hamrick, beating a tough Richland team 11-1. The Rangers profited from great hitting as well, as Muller blasted another pair of home runs, while Jared Kengott ’16 slammed his first home run of the year. Junior Will Guzman also played a big role as his 2 runs scored provided essential momentum for the team.
After beating Richland, Jesuit faced off against Prosper for a second time, and the game was a low scoring affair in the Rangers favor, allowing them to grab their third win of the tournament. Jesuit thrived in this game seen in the efforts of senior Bryce Bonner who knocked in two of the teams runs in a 3-1 victory.
On the final day of the tournament, the Rangers pushed past Belton behind Heath VanKirk ’17 (2-0), who pitched a scoreless 6 innings allowing only 4 hits in a 2-0 victory. The red-hot bat of Pete Hamrick ’16 again led the Rangers on offense going 2-3, followed by fellow senior and Purdue commit Bryce Bonner went 2-2.
Sadly, Jesuit fell 7-3 to Sachse in Jesuit’s final game of the tournament. Nic Columbo ’17 (1-1) started strong allowing only one run over three innings, but a high pitch count got the best of him when he allowed 6 runs in the fourth. Connor Lynch ’16 came in and shut down the Sachse offense for the rest of the game, but it was too late. Down seven, the Rangers only mustered up 3 runs. Thanks to junior Will Guzman’s RBI on his way to a 2-3 night, the Rangers avoided the shutout, but were unable to capture the win.
Muller’s extraordinary start to the tournament, winning a game on the mound and blasting 4 home runs over three games, propelled Jesuit through the tournament. Despite the two losses, Kyle seemed very comfortable with the teams future in his hands, saying, “Moving forward [we expect] to go undefeated in district and to carry that momentum into playoffs.” When Hamrick, the teams constituent hitter who continued to drive the offensive frenzy with multiple extra base hits seemed ecstatic with the teams results, stating that he “was really happy with how [they] did on this stretch.” Looking towards the future, Pete was also optimistic, saying their early success provided “necessary momentum as [they] get ready to head into districts.”
We hope that our Rangers’ predictions come true as the baseball team heads into the heart of the season during district play and eventually into the playoffs.
