Jesuit stretches win-streak to 10 games v TC

By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor

Click here for our full photo gallery from this game.

TAMPA – A Game of the Year candidate on paper, the late-season showdown between rivals Jesuit and Tampa Catholic more than lived up to expectations as two of the area’s hottest teams went at it Friday night.

A pitching duel tipped ever-so slightly in favor of the Tigers, as Jesuit junior Aden Knowles held TC off the scoreboard for four-plus innings, and Wes Mendes homered and scored twice to give his team a 2-1 victory.

“For the first couple of innings, this was just a pitcher’s duel going back and forth,” Knowles said. “… I did my best to battle against their really good hitters. I threw strikes, got ahead and competed.”

Mendes broke open the scoreless game in the fourth, fouling off three pitches before sending a 2-2 screaming liner over the wall in right-center for his third dinger of the year.

“It was a good piece,” Mendes said. “He left a fastball down the middle and I saw it pretty well … I had a pretty good fight, battled a few fouls off, he threw me every pitch he had and I waited on a good one.”

Mendes, who served as designated hitter early in the year while he dealt with some mild arm fatigue, has now returned to full health and returned to the mound after stellar junior year in 2022, which included an 11-strikeout performance in the Tigers state title winning game. The Ole Miss signee said returning to the mound in the last two weeks – including 16 strikeouts in his eight innings of work – has been a boost to his whole game.

“I love getting back on the mound, I mean, it’s fun being a two-way (player),” he said. “What can I say, I love having the ball, having that control. I was happy to help, but being the DH wasn’t nearly as much fun. Playing centerfield, pitching, hitting, I love it all.”

Opposite of Knowles, TC’s lefty Lazaro pitched his tail off, striking out eight and giving up the solo shot before loading the bases and departing in the sixth inning.

A bases loaded walk drawn by Noah Sheffield pushed Mendes across to extend the Tigers lead, but TC reliever Roman Corinti would allow just a Zane Pestalozzi single the rest of the way, and struck out three in the sixth inning.

Tampa Catholic (15-5) would cut the lead in half on a blast from Maddox King to lead off the home-sixth, and had an opportunity to further the damage putting two runners in scoring position on hits by Hershey Sanchez (2-for-3) and Ethan Frame (2-for-3, double).

But Tigers senior John Abraham wouldn’t allow any more to cross the plate in the sixth, and tightened his belt again an inning later as Lazaro doubled and moved to third, before Abraham closed the door on the game with his fifth punchout sitting down King in their second face-off.

“I was in a 2-2 count with Maddox King and left a fastball down the middle of the plate and he hit it out,” Abraham said. “So, the adjustment the second time was thinking, ‘he’s not better than me,’ so, I’m not going to make that same mistake twice. I struck him out, so that’s a trade I’ll take to end the win.”

The win marked 10-straight against the Crusaders for Jesuit (17-3), with Tampa Catholic last winning in 2018 (part of a three-game win stretch dating back to 2017).

“This feels really good,” Knowles admitted. “Obviously, coming into this game you want to keep the streak alive, making this a little higher up because of the history of this rivalry. So, this just feels really good.”

The loss in-turn snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Crusaders this season, but Tampa Catholic will look to have a short memory as the team travels to Sarasota Cardinal Mooney for a game on Saturday.

Lazaro, a four-year varsity player at TC, admitted some disappointment at not being able to pull off a win against the nearby rival, but was not disappointed in how his team battled.

“I’ve been playing Jesuit since my freshman year, played every game, and pitched in almost every one,” he said. “I came in locked in, pitched the best I could … we battled our butts off, came out ready to play, we just didn’t get the timely hits. But I’m so proud of our guys.”

On the other side, Jesuit senior Josh Hines had nothing but praise for his longtime friend, who got him to line into a double play and strikeout in their two meetings on the night.

“Danny Lazaro threw one hell of a game,” Hines said. “That is one of my best friends, and that was the best game I think I’ve ever seen him throw. He kept us off-balance, and just did a great job.”

Despite an 0-for-3 night at the plate, Hines had a huge impact on the Tigers win as the senior backstop hosed three would-be base stealers in the win, two at second base, after a strike-em-out, throw-em-out at third base in the third.

“I’m not going to down him too much, but it wasn’t a great jump toward third,” Hines said. “I knew I had time, got my feet planted and made a good throw.”

The work behind the dish wasn’t lost on his battery-mate, Knowles.

“He’s just a wall back there, and it give us (the pitchers) all so much confidence,” Knowles said. “For him to throw out three guys, kept them from putting me in a bad spot, kept them off the scoreboard, and kept us in this game.”

Knowles struck out five, and allowed five hits and a walk in his 72 pitches on the night.

Jesuit was coming off a tough, 9-8, extra-inning loss at nationally top-ranked IMG Academy on Wednesday (a team the Tigers will welcome to Hyer Family Park in two weeks), and Hines was pleased with how the team responded on Friday.

“I love our resilience,” Hines said. “We played a great game against IMG and came up short in the last inning. But for us, it’s always about the next game. What’s next? Whoever is in front of us is the team we focus on beating. The past is the past.”

The Tigers continue on their iron-sharpening, juggernaut of a schedule next week against perennial state power Sarasota at home on Tuesday, then [checks notes] travels to perennial state power Venice on Thursday, and welcomes [yeeesh] perennial state power Calvary Christian next Friday.

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#2 Jesuit 2, #3 Tampa Catholic 1

J 000|101|0 – |2|6|0
T 000|001|0 – |1|9|0
W – Knowles (5-0); L – Lazaro (1-3); S – Abraham (1)
2B – Frame, Lazaro (T); HR – Mendes (J); King (T). Records – J (17-3); T (15-5).