After a disappointing end to last season, Jesuit has described this season as a “revenge tour” for its returning players This revenge was on full display after the Crusaders dispatched the Sprague Olympians 11-1 in just six innings on Friday night in the OSAA Class 6A quarterfinals.
Even in their first three playoff games, the Crusaders found themselves in an early hole in the Class 6A quarterfinals. Jesuit pitcher Noble Meyer — seen by some as a potential first round pick in the MLB draft — allowed a home run by Sprague infielder Brandon Stinnett on his second throw of the game.
The senior wasn’t fazed as he struck out nine batters in the game, and didn’t allow another hit by the Olympians for the rest of the night.
“It is something that we don’t see every day in an 18-year-old,” said Jesuit head coach Griffin Colin about Meyer’s resolve. “It doesn’t matter what the atmosphere is, whether it’s raining or you got a sold out crowd at Gladstone.”
Fellow Jesuit pitcher Ty Alleman has been in awe of all the work that his teammate has done all year.
“It’s electric watching him come out every day putting in the work,” said Alleman, who also added four RBIs in the game. “The way he comes out attacking hitters, even if it’s a home run hit. He’s not rattled, he knows he’s better than the guys he comes in and attacks.”
Alleman has not only seen Meyer bounce back from early deficits, but his entire team as well.
“The first inning hasn’t always gone how we would like to just give up a few runs,” said Alleman. “But once we get punched, we punch right back and you can see that in the first few playoff games.”
The Crusaders have bulldozed their way through the playoffs, scoring 12 runs per game going into Tuesday’s semifinals.
These wins can be attributed to Colin’s culture that he has cultivated throughout this season.
“We are not asking one player to do it all,” said Colin. “We do a really good job at practice giving our kids a game plan or formula for what we’re going to see and what we want to do against that team.”
This team has completely bought into this culture and has brought a new mentality to the team.
“Our dugout life has been incredible,” said Alleman about the culture changes that Colin has started. “I think that’s a big part of it. We’re trying to keep our energy up the whole game and stay involved so we don’t lose focus and keep winning games.”
This culture has the Crusaders inching closer to getting to the Class 6A finals for the first time since winning the title in 2019 and Meyer has no intention of falling short this year.
“It’s been a dream come true,” said Meyer about moving to the semifinals. “We’ve been planning this since we lost last year. We all want it, we are all gonna do anything to get it.
“I think losing in the second round last year gave us a little kick. We don’t want that to happen again. Last year kind of fueled our fire.”
