By Brett Nevitt
Coming off 3 straight losses to Tampa Catholic the last 2 seasons, the Tigers were as motivated as ever for a W. Not only did Jesuit want to win, but they wanted to dominate their rivals. The Tigers put up arguably their most complete performance of the season, leading to a blowout win. The Tigers totaled 10 hits, gave up just 4 hits, and made 0 errors, playing a perfect game in every phase. As they have most of the season, the Tigers started hot right out of the gate.
Bennett Lee was hit with the very first pitch of the game before BJ Graham was also hit. Henry Politz made the Crusaders pay with an RBI single to give the Tigers an early lead, but they weren't done yet in the first. After a walk, Andrew Kynes smoked a ball into the outfield for an RBI single. Jonathan Shoop tacked on a 3rd Jesuit run with a ground out, driving in Politz. After the quick offensive outburst, Camden Minacci took over on the hill.
Minacci has dominated all season long, and he continued to do so on Friday night. The Wake Forrest commit only allowed a runner to reach scoring position twice in 6 innings of work. Minacci pounded the strike zone, walking just 2 hitters, and missed bats all night, striking out 9. The righty threw 90 pitches in 6 scoreless innings and only allowed 4 hits on the night. With Minacci's performance, the Tigers offense only needed one run to come out with a win, but they had other plans, to light up the score board.
After the first, the Tigers stalled for two innings, but Ethan Valdez jumped on the first pitch of the 4th and put it off a tree behind the RF fence for a HR. For a 5'6, 140 pounder, Valdez has loads of pop in his bat. Lee followed up the Valdez HR with one of his own, a no-doubter to dead CF. It was Lee's 2nd HR of the season. Jonathan Shoop came through with a clutch 2-out, 2-RBI single later in the inning to extend the lead to 7. Lee continued his strong night with an RBI double in the 5th. The Tigers later added 2 more runs on a ground out and an error to push their total to 10 runs. Lee (HR, Double), Valdez (HR), and Kynes all had 2-hit games, while Shoop drove in 3 runs.
Turner Thompson closed out the game with a 1-2-3 inning and 2 K's to put the exclamation mark on the rivalry game. Coach Menendez couldn't have asked for a better game out of his team, as their perfect season continues. Jesuit is now 9-0 heading into a week of 3 tough games. If Jesuit can continue to get all-around team efforts like they got Friday night, they may be unstoppable.
Next week: Monday @ Sarasota, Wednesday vs. St. Ignatius, Friday vs. Robinson
FINAL: Jesuit 10-0 Tampa Catholic