If high school baseball games were seven innings, Jesuit Dallas would be competing for a berth in the state championship this weekend.
Instead, Flower Mound Marcus is moving on after completing consecutive seventh-inning rallies to sweep the best-of-3 series in the Class 6A Region Division 2 final at Dallas Baptist University’s Horner Ballpark.
With the win, the Marauders (27-11) advance to the state semifinals where they will meet up against Tomball.
Jesuit (30-9-2), meanwhile, had been making its first appearance in a regional final since 2016.
The Rangers appeared poised to force a decisive Game 3 on Friday, taking a 4-3 advantage to the final inning before the Marauders rallied to win, 5-4.
The Marcus rally started when Brady Moore reached on a throwing error and following a single by Austin Allen, the Marauders took the lead on a two-run triple by Easton Mitchell.
Jesuit actually got the tying run on first to open the bottom half of the seventh on a single by Roman Derichsweiler, but Marcus pitcher Jameson Mayfield induced a fielder’s choice before striking out consecutive Rangers to seal the win.
Prior to the seventh, Jesuit had a golden opportunity to add insurance in the bottom of the sixth when Griffin Civello was hit by a pitch and Shane Parker and Braxton Barber singled to load the bases with one out. However, the Marauders were able to squad that rally with a double-play grounder.
Jesuit had previously taken the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Nate Iannariello opened the inning with a walk, Cole Johnson singled, Davis Montgomery singled to score two and Civello hit a sacrifice fly.
For the game, Barber finished 4-for-4 with two stolen bases.
On the mound, Jacob Martinez went the distance for Jesuit, allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits with one strikeout.
Game 1 on Thursday saw much of the same with Jesuit leading heading to the bottom of the seventh inning, 2-1.
Defense again played a role in sparking the rally for Marcus as Moore reached on a throwing error with one out and moved into scoring position on a single by Allen. Mitchell then again came up big for the Marauders with an RBI single followed by a game-winning hit to left-center by Mayfield.
Jesuit had broken a 1-1 deadlock in the top half of the seventh on an RBI double by Tyler Haddock scoring Civello.
Marcus’ late rally spoiled a solid outing and saddled Jesuit starter James Jorgensen with his first loss of the season. The Texas signee (8-1) threw 6.1 innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits with seven strikeouts while also contributing two hits at the plate.
Haddock also had a pair of hits, while Iannariello had a hit and an RBI.
While Jesuit was heart-broken after falling short on designs of achieving the program’s first state title since 2016, it was still a successful season that saw the Rangers go a perfect 14-0 en route to the District 7-6A crown, reach the fourth round of the playoffs and record an 18-game win streak – the second longest in program history.
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