Turning point in Jesuit’s state title season came after 2 losses

TAMPA — Jesuit’s baseball team was looking shaky midway through April.

Uncharacteristically shaky, to be sure.

On April 13, the perennially powerful Tigers were 13-6 and had suffered two, 10-run mercy-rule losses within a four-day span: 10-0 to IMG Academy and 14-2 to Naples Neumann.

“And that’s when we said, ‘All right, that’s enough of this, this isn’t who we are,’ ” Jesuit senior Noah Sheffield said. “The seniors called a meeting with the team and we said we’re going to get totally focused from this point forward. We’re going to practice on Saturdays and we’re going to make the most of every moment.”

The Tigers also made a few lineup adjustments, moving sophomore Kaden Waechter to shortstop, Jacob Lozano to second base, Sheffield to third base, sophomore Cannon Murtagh to rightfield and Zane Pestalozzi to DH.

“No one really said a word about any of the changes,” Jesuit coach Miguel Menendez said. “That’s the thing about this program. Everyone buys in and everyone wants to do whatever is best for the team. It truly is the way it is here. It’s really pretty amazing.”

It also works.

After the 14-2 defeat to Neumann, the Tigers never lost again, winning 13 in a row.

On Saturday, Jesuit defeated Plantation American Heritage 5-2 in the Class 5A state final to win its seventh state baseball title and second state championship in three years.

Saturday’s victory also came with the added bonus of avenging last year’s heartbreaking 8-5 state final loss to American Heritage.

“We had the lead (4-0) in that (2023) game and then I think we thought, ‘Well, we’re just going to go ahead and win this’ and we didn’t keep up our intensity,” Sheffield said. “That loss really hurt and this year we thought we’ve got to make it right.”

This time in the final the Tigers (26-6) held a 5-0 lead through four innings and Sheffield, who went 1-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored, said, “None of us lost any focus.”

After 4 1/3 innings with Tigers starter McCall Biemiller on the mound (one run allowed, five scattered hits, seven strikeouts), Wilson Andersen closed out the victory.

The defense also was stellar, committing just one error, erasing at least part of the pain from last year’s final when Jesuit committed five errors.

“This season is a big testament to the strength of this group of seniors (17 total, including 15 who played last year),” Menendez said. “Even when we had those rough games (losing by the 10-run rule) they never panicked and they never got down on their teammates. They knew they could do it and they knew what they had to do. Then they went out and did it. That’s pretty awesome.”

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Sheffield, son of former major-leaguer Gary Sheffield, said the way it ended was even that more satisfying, given the way the 2023 season went down.

“Now I can come back and that championship number, 2024, is going to be on the scoreboard and it will feel even better because that’s also the year I graduated,” Sheffield said. “I’m so happy for this team.”