Clark sparks, and Pirela walks it off in Jesuit win at Crest

The Jesuit dugout empties as the Tigers rush to swarm DJ Pirela after his two-run triple.

By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor

DOVER – Jesuit senior Jack Clark charged a hard Nico Cappucci ground ball single sent his way in left field and fired a strike to the plate and Tigers catcher Vincent DeCarlo, who slapped down a tag and kept Strawberry Crest’s lead at one run to end top of the seventh.

The throw changed a subdued Tigers dugout into a raucous noise factory and sparked a 4-3 comeback win, as a single and hit batter put two aboard for senior DJ Pirela, who smashed a two-run, walk-off triple to the gap in right-center.

More photos from this game: click here.

“Jack Clark was aggressive, he came through it, and made a perfect throw,” Tigers coach Miguel Menendez said. “The ball beat him and he was out, and that momentum definitely carried over in the bottom half.”

Jesuit catcher Vincent DeCarlo applies the tag at the plate after a “perfect throw” from left fielder Jack Clark.

Though Pirela got to celebrate the walk-off with his teammates chasing him down at shortstop, he was quick to point out the tide-turner from his fellow senior, Clark.

“Plays like that in baseball are just confidence boosters for the team,” Pirela said. “Throughout the whole game I didn’t feel like our team was energized, but we picked it up and that play re-amped all of us. (After that) we were like, ‘we’re gonna win this game.’”

Tigers senior DJ Pirela sends this third inning single the opposite way down the right field line.

Clark said he knew the Tigers would need something big to happen to come alive for the rally.

“I knew someone on the field had to make a play to prevent the run and keep us in this game. The ball came to me and it just happened,” he said.

Jack Clark singles in a run in the third.

After an 0-for-6 stretch in week two, Pirela has turned it up at the plate with five hits in the Tigers last three wins, including a 2-for-4 night on Monday.

“I have to keep building, we are entering the middle of the season and I feel like I can use this as momentum,” he said. “I can be like, ‘you got this, you’ve already been in a tough moment like this.’”

His coach said the tough stretch was something he was confident wouldn’t last long for Pirela.

“He’s been scuffling a little bit, but he is one of our best players,” Menendez said of his leadoff hitter. “We’ve told him when he goes, we go. When he hits, usually the rest of our lineup hits as well.

“When we needed him the most, in the biggest spot, there is no one I’d rather have had up there.”

Strawberry Crest (4-3) got quality hits from the bottom half of its lineup as Chase Conti, Kevin Kenny and Matt Hall singled, and Lance Highsmith drove in a pair of runs in the second inning.

Chargers hitter Lance Highsmith drops an RBI single down the line in left field.

The Chargers held Jesuit (5-2) to a single run as senior Brayden DiCerb pitched 2 2/3 innings in his start, and struck out two.

Strawberry Crest senior pitcher Brayden DiCerb

Clark cut Crest’s lead in half with an RBI single lined into right in the third, putting runners on the corners and forcing a pitching change to Landon Wood.

Strawberry Crest’s Matt Hall watches his first-inning single – one of his three hits – travel into the outfield.

Wood would work two innings, striking out three in relief. Strawberry Crest got another single from Hall (his third hit of the game) in the sixth and he motored all the way from first base to score on an error on a ground ball from Highsmith.

The extended lead looked crucial as Noah Sheffield chopped a hit, that skied on its first bounce and allowed Clark (who had his second single to start the home-sixth) to score from third and cut the deficit to one.

Sophomore Kaden Waechter earned his first high school varsity win in relief.

Sophomore Kaden Waechter worked the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing just one unearned run on three hits, earning his first varsity win in his Saladino debut.

“He doesn’t pitch like a sophomore,” Menendez said. “… He doesn’t get rattled by anything.”

Waechter said he was thrilled to play in the tournament, but said there is still work to do.

“I’m super excited,” he said, “but the job is not finished, and I’m ready for the next game – one at a time.”

Chargers second baseman Chase Conti catches a fly ball.

Gamesmanship from the veteran Tigers skipper also proved pivotal as twice Jesuit issued intentional walks to Crest senior slugger Akhil Nimmala (hitting .364 with seven RBI), and each time recorded the third out on the next batter.

“Give credit to Strawberry Crest, they did a really good job especially with two strikes, found ways to put balls in play and were pesky,” Menendez said.

Adding with a smile, “but we weren’t going to let Nimmala beat us.”

Jesuit starting pitcher Brady Hoar.

Brady Hoar allowed the two early runs, but struck out three in as many innings, and Keane Hyer provided 1 2/3 innings to bridge things to Waechter, recording four K’s in his five outs.

Reliever Keane Hyer pitched to seven hitters, striking out four and keeping the Chargers from scoring.

Zane Pestalozzi doubled for the Tigers, and the defensive showing for Jesuit included a nice leaping catch and come-down on the bag from first baseman Will Burke, a caught stealing from DeCarlo, and a nice inning-ending play at second from Dean Spoto.

Chargers catcher Toby Highsmith also threw out a runner at second, and Hall put in solid work in right field on top of his 3-for-3 night at the plate.

Rightfielder Matt Hall after he made a diving catch in the first. 

Jesuit’s second pool-play win, and the tie-breakers over its previous two 1-1 opponents will advance the Tigers to the semifinals, but the team has one pool play game left against Leto Tuesday at 7pm. Strawberry Crest and Newsome square off at 4pm, and though both teams are in the consolation bracket, the Chargers attempt to avenge last week’s loss to the Wolves, 5-2.

#3 Jesuit 4, #7 Strawberry Crest 3

S 020|001|0 – |3|10|1
J 001|001|2 – |4|6|1
W – Waechter (1-0); L – Tweedy
2B – Knight (S); Pestalozzi (J); 3B – Pirela (J). Records – S (5-3); J (5-2).

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