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Jesuit baseball is headed back to the State Tournament!

The 2022 State Champions reached the Final Four once again this season with a 12-2 win Tuesday (May 16) over Osceola in the Region Final.

Jesuit (26-4) will play Sebring on Monday (May 22) at 1:00pm in a State Semifinal at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.

Wes Mendes ’23 and John Abraham ’23 combined to get the win on the mound vs. Osceola, allowing a combined two hits and two walks while the defense played error-free. At the plate, Vincent DeCarlo ’25 had 2 doubles, Zane Pestalozzi ’24 had 3 hits and 3 RBI, and Clay Thompson ’23 had 2 hits and scored 3 times.

In the previous game, the Region Semifinal, the Tigers went to extra innings tied at 2 with Naples. With two outs in the bottom of the 8th inning, Noah Sheffield ’24 bombed a two-run home run to win it, setting off an epic celebration that went viral on Twitter.

The Tigers, the 2022 State Champions, are vying for the program's 7th State title and 3rd under head coach Miguel Menendez. This is the 23rd time Jesuit has advanced to the State Tournament, with 20 of those – and all six State titles – coming since 1992.

Mendes leads the Tigers in several offensive categories, including batting average (.414), on-base + slugging (1.198), runs (41), and hits (40), while Grant Jordan ’23 leads in RBI with 39. On the mound, four hurlers have an ERA below 2.00 – Brooks Chamberlin ’23 (1.22), Aden Knowles ’24 (1.30), Mendes (1.48), and Derek Westfall ’23 (1.56). The leaders in strikeouts are Wilson Andersen ’26 (51) and John Abraham ’23 (46).

For full team statistics, state and national rankings, and more, go to the Jesuit baseball page on MaxPreps.com. The Tigers are currently ranked No. 9 nationally by MaxPreps.

For more photos go to the Facebook page Jesuit High School of Tampa, and for a livestream broadcast of most games go to the Facebook page Jesuit High School Baseball - Tampa.