Calvary Christian exploits Jesuit errors for 3-1 win

Calvary reliever Cameron Uzzillia reacts after registering the final out in a tight win over Jesuit.

By Chuck Frye, Senior Staff Writer

TAMPA – Perennially powerful teams like these should not be facing off in the first week of the season, but circumstances forced Jesuit and Calvary Christian’s hands.

The uncertainty of this year’s playoff schedule caused problems, as did Jesuit’s desire to load up its slate with a bounty of standout opponents in preparation for a state title repeat. So, when dates dwindled to a precious few, the normal mid-April battle became a face-off on Friday of Week 1.

Click here for a few more photos from this game.

The game ended up being the same, a three-plus hour emotional battle both on and off the field, but the result differed as Calvary snapped a four-game losing streak head-to-head with a 3-1 victory.

“It was a case of not knowing what the schedule was going to be until (the state) voted on that best-of-three (format for regional play),” said Warriors head coach Greg Olsen. “(The Tigers’) schedule was full and ours was the same later in the year. The season started a week earlier this year, we had this date open, and we just did it.”

Warriors senior Maddox Bozeman signals to his bench after getting his second hit of the game.

With Jesuit’s student section chirping at Calvary, both teams trying to do the same to each other (the umpires had to intervene several times), and each pitch and play assuming a high level of importance, the battle took on a playoff feel. Under such circumstances, the little things magnify, and the Warriors got enough of the little things right to prevail.

The top of the third inning was definitive Calvary Christian baseball, putting pressure on the defense until it cracked. With leadoff base runners in Gabe Campos (walk) and Maddox Bozeman (his second single of the night) on base, the Warriors went small ball.

Jesuit starter Wilson Andersen tags out Calvary’s Darian Collins after fielding his third-inning sacrifice bunt.

No. 3 hitter Darian Collins laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Olsen was going to deviate from that script, cutting Cameron Uzzillia loose in search of a big inning, but the first baseman had different plans.

“During a timeout, he came to me and said, ‘Coach, I can do it.’,” Olsen explained of his clean-up batter asking to follow with another bunt. “I have a lot of trust in him as a senior.”

Jesuit junior Cannon Murtagh gestures to his bench after his fourth-inning leadoff double as Calvary’s Jacob Henderson throws the ball back to his pitcher. Murtagh would later score his team’s only run of the night.

Uzzillia did as he asked, and the Tiger defense cracked, throwing the ball into the outfield to allow Campos and Bozeman to score.

“Even though he’s our four-hole guy, he’s honestly one of the best bunters, if not the best, we have,” Olsen said. “I just love the leadership and the unselfishness out of him in that moment to think about the game and do what’s best for the team. He executed perfectly.”

Jesuit starter Wilson Andersen went three innings, giving up one earned run and four hits.

Execution stung Jesuit (1-1) all night starting with this, the first of three errors.

“We didn’t play a very clean game and (Calvary’s) a good team,” Tigers head coach Miguel Menendez said. “If you give them extra outs, extra opportunities, those are the kind of things that can happen.”

And with a cadre of capable arms such as the Warriors have, it can make coming back more difficult. Senior southpaw Grayson Gibson shook off first-pitch strike issues to show off the fruits of his off-season training program.

Warriors starter Grayson Gibson tracks down the fourth-inning infield tapper of Jesuit’s Brody Smith (foreground) and throws him out.

“I went to the Florida Baseball ARMory in Lakeland and it’s a great place,” Gibson said. “They have a big velocity program and I was able to pick up my velocity without losing my command, which was the ultimate goal. Randy Sullivan (the owner) has helped me tremendously, and my fastball has vertical break now so it’s missing barrels, which is awesome.”

Gibson struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced before giving up fourth-inning doubles to Cannon Murtagh and Wilson Andersen to get Jesuit on the board. They were the only hits Gibson yielded before leaving the mound at the end of the frame and the field at the end of the fifth.

Calvary Christian lefty Grayson Gibson flashed some talent, striking out five straight Tigers batters at one point.

Getting tired of the catcalls from the student section targeting reliever Caden Schlotterbeck, Gibson fired back his replies and was ejected by the home plate umpire after Jesuit batted.

“I let my emotions get the best of me,” Gibson related. “I lost my cool. I shouldn’t have done it, I regret it, but we’ll move on from it.”

Calvary head coach Greg Olsen looks bemused after a sixth-inning talk with the home plate umpire.

Schlotterbeck, a junior, stayed composed through his 2 2/3-inning stint, fanning four before being lifted for closer Uzzillia, who promptly put his own feet to the fire.

Warriors junior southpaw Caden Schlotterbeck was effective, working 1 2/3 innings with four strikeouts.

Off the bat in the sixth, he hit Christian Sheffield and intentionally walked Bryce Besece to load the bases. In the seventh, Jesuit juiced the sacks again on Murtagh’s second hit of the game, a Brady Smith hit batter, and a free pass to Andersen. Both times, Uzzillia (1 1/3 innings, one hit, two walks, four Ks) dug deep and struck out the next batter to end the sixth and the game.

Luckily, Calvary Christian (now 3-0) tacked on a key insurance run in the seventh when a bloop-single inside the rightfeld line from Cooper Notz brought home Brett Garcy (reached on an error to go with three earlier hits).

Jesuit catcher Vincent DeCarlo shows the umpire the ball after tagging Calvary’s Cooper Notz out on a seventh-inning play. Notz, however, had already done his job when he singled in an insurance run earlier in the inning.

Jesuit got solid pitching as well from starter Andersen (three innings, four hits, one earned run) and Samir Mohammed (3 2/3 innings, no earned runs, three hits, seven Ks).

Tigers reliever Samir Mohammed turned in 3 2/3 quality innings, yielding an unearned run on three hits while striking out seven.

Combined both teams’ pitchers struck out 27 batters in the game (Calvary: 15; Jesuit: 12).

Third baseman Brett Garcy (third from right) and starting pitcher Grayson Gibson (right) are energized as they greet Calvary reliever Caden Schlotterbeck (second from right) after his strikeout ends the fifth inning.

The Tigers also balanced its defense by getting a pair of putouts at the plate, but the lack of timely hitting eventually did them in.

“We’re not swinging the bats very well as a group, but we have really good pitchers, so we’re going to be in every game,” Menendez concluded. “It’s Game 2 and we’re not going to see very many teams as good as (Calvary). With the schedule we have, I didn’t expect us to go undefeated. It’s just about learning, getting better, and being ready when the playoffs come.”

The Calvary Christian bench tries its best to distract the Jesuit pitcher into throwing ball four during a sixth-inning at-bat.

Calvary Christian 3
Jesuit 1

C 002|000|1 – |3|8|0
J 000|100|0 – |1|3|3
W – Gibson (1-0); L – Andersen (0-1); S – Uzzillia (1)
2B – Garcy (C); Murtagh, Andersen (J). Records – C (3-0); J (1-1).