Leadoff Nessler comes through late for Jesuit at Calvary
By Chuck Frye
Correspondent
CLEARWATER – Venturing onto Calvary Christian’s home turf on a damp, blustery Thursday night, Jesuit was two outs away from a statement victory.
Quieting a Warriors’ offense that averages over nine runs a game, touching up a pitching staff that allowed a mere eight total runs, the Tigers were this close to dealing Calvary its first loss of the season.
Until the hosts erupted, tied the game and sent it to extra innings.
But the late comeback didn’t crush Jesuit’s resolve. Newly-installed leadoff hitter A.J. Nessler raked an eighth-inning, two-out, full-count pitch into the left-centerfield gap to score Carter French, then lefty reliever Wes Mendes rebounded from a shaky seventh frame to retire the Warriors in order and finally lock down the 5-4 victory.
“I hate that we were in that situation but, as a coach, it was good to see because we responded so well,” Tigers head coach Miguel Menendez said. “I think our guys don’t panic, they just kept fighting and found a way.”
Of his final productive at-bat on a night where he reached base all five times he batted, Nessler – a Pittsburgh commit – said: “I’d say that I was as relaxed as I could be, confident in my ability to hit the ball to all fields. I got a good pitch to hit and I drove it. It was a great team win.”
Jesuit senior AJ Nessler (813Preps file photo).
“We talked before the year about A.J. hitting leadoff,” said Menendez, who decided to go in a different direction until recently. “When we lost at Berkeley Prep (one of two one-run losses in the past four games), we left him on deck when, if he was leading off, he would have gotten a chance to hit in that situation. We made the change (last Friday) and, luckily, he’s made me look pretty smart.”
After Calvary (now 13-1) jumped to a first-inning lead on Matt Rose’s RBI single, Jesuit (11-5) rode strong starting pitching from left-hander Jamie Arnold and waited for its opportunity.
It happened in the fifth when Nessler’s slow chopper to a drawn-in infield plated the hustling French, who had doubled. Then with two outs, Nessler came home on a wild pitch followed by a base hit from Mendes that delivered Jack Martinez for a 3-1 advantage.
“(Calvary starter and Florida commit) Liam (Peterson), (Warriors reliever) Landen Maroudis (seeing his first action after breaking his glove hand two weeks ago) and me all play on the same travel team over the summer,” Mendes said with a smile. “We’re all good friends and it was great to face him. He got the best of me twice (including a strikeout) and I got him once.”
The lead looked safe as Arnold (6.1 innings, eight Ks) cruised, but the Florida State commit tired in the seventh, yielded an opposite-field solo home run to Miles Curley and two more base runners before turning the game over to the bullpen.
But Mendes, coming in cold from rightfield, issued a bases-loaded walk to Sam Miller and uncorked a wild pitch that scored Blake Opie with the equalizer.
“No excuses, you’ve got to go in there and throw strikes,” the Vanderbilt commit said. “I’m just glad I could go out there for another inning.”
Jesuit pitcher Wes Mendes (813Preps file photo).
And starting the eighth in rhythm, and with a lead thanks to Nessler, made all of the difference.
“This is the man, right here,” Mendes said of his game-winning teammate.
“These are the kind of teams you have to beat to make a run deep in the playoffs like we want to do,” Menendez concluded. “For us, hopefully it’s a good building block.”
And for Calvary, head coach Greg Olson said: “Jamie, Wes … those guys are not easy to hit. They’re going to big-time colleges for a reason. We had our hands full but our guys stayed the course, fought and really showed their maturity. I’m proud of the whole group, they played a great game against a great team.”
This was Jesuit’s second straight win over Calvary after dropping the first four head-to-head matchups.
Both teams return to action on Friday as the Tigers host Cleveland (Ohio) St. Ignatius, while the Warriors travel to take on Dunedin.
⚾⚾⚾⚾
(6) Jesuit 5
Calvary Chr 4 – eight innings
J 000|031|01 – |5|9|0
CC 100|000|30 – |4|5|2
W – Mendes (4-0); L – Maroudis (3-1); S – (0)
2B – French (J); Costello (CC); 3B – Nessler (J); HR – Curley (CC). Records – J (11-5); CC (13-1).
