Dallas Jesuit rides strong pitching to 6A baseball championship – Austin American-Statesman

For all practical purposes, Dallas Jesuit needed just two innings to win its first state baseball championship.

With junior pitcher Jacob Palisch — a Stanford pledge — on the hill, a 6-0 lead after two innings proved to be insurmountable.

Jesuit would coast from there, beating San Antonio Johnson 6-2 in the Class 6A title game Saturday afternoon at Dell Diamond.

The Jesuit baseball team became just the second team in school history — joining boys soccer in 2010 — to win a University Interscholastic League team sport.

Palisch was superb on a muggy afternoon, keeping Johnson scoreless until the Jaguars struck for two runs in the seventh. Johnson, down 6-2, had the bases loaded in the seventh before Jesuit reliever J.J. Montenegro struck out third baseman Derek Martinez with two outs to end it.

Palisch’s performance came one day after University of Texas signee Kyle Muller — a second-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in Thursday’s baseball draft — pitched a 2-0 shutout against Houston Langham Creek.

Palisch said he took comfort after his teammates scored one run in the first inning and five more in the second.

“That’s the biggest confidence booster you can have as a pitcher,” the junior southpaw said. “When you know your offense came to play, there’s nothing you can’t do.”

Five different Rangers had singles in Jesuit’s five-run second. The most notable was a suicide squeeze bunt single by J.T. Mix to score the first run of the inning.

Muller, who completed his brilliant high school career with two hits in Jesuit’s two games at state, ripped a single to left to score the Rangers’ second run of the inning.

Jesuit, a private school that began competing in UIL athletics in 2003, did not have an easy road to the state championship. The Rangers won eight elimination games in the playoffs, culminating with Saturday’s victory over Johnson.

“I’m pretty sure that’s never happened before,” Muller said. “For it to happen to us with our backs against the wall, it shows how good our team chemistry is.”

Jesuit finished the season 36-8-2. Johnson was 32-6.