Baseball: Season Ends With Regional Semifinal Loss to Jesuit

Head+coach+Kevin+McCray+talks+to+the+team+after+their+5-0+loss+to+Jesuit+in+the+regional+semifinals.

Photo Isabel Hanewicz

Head coach Kevin McCray talks to the team after their 5-0 loss to Jesuit in the regional semifinals.

Bailey Adams, Sports Editor

On some nights, everything goes right. On others, nothing falls into place. For Robinson (17-10), Tuesday night fell into the latter category as its season unceremoniously ended with a 5-0 loss to Jesuit (24-5) in the regional semifinals.

“Again, some of [Jesuit’s] runs came after mistakes by us,” Knights head coach Kevin McCray said. “It’s tough to play a perfect game, but jeez do they make you pay.”

Defensively, the Knights made two errors and the Tigers pounded out 10 hits, taking an early lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Hunter Tubbs (’16). The one run was all that their starting pitcher, Jack Anderson (’18), would need on the night. Anderson put on another dominant performance against Robinson as he held the Knights scoreless on one hit over seven innings while striking out six. Matthew Steckel (’16) picked up Robinson’s lone hit, an infield single in the fourth inning.

“[Anderson] is just a good quality pitcher,” McCray said. “He’s got good velocity and he’s got a good breaking ball, so he’s got two above average high school pitches.”

After pushing a run across in the first, Jesuit added to its lead in the second on a solo home run to left field by Jake Jones (’17). The Tigers put up three more in the fourth on an RBI single by Nick Ortega (’16) and a two-run double by Alex Mocny (’17).

With the loss, the Knights finished the season with a record of 17-10. Even after losing 12 seniors from last year’s state final four team, Robinson was able to come back in 2016 with another winning record, leaving a lasting impression on McCray.

“There were so many uncertainties coming into the year,” he said. “We lost 12 seniors. We played everyone tough, but to go 17-3 outside of those two monster programs [Jesuit and Alonso], that’s pretty impressive.”

The Knights lose five seniors this year: Luis Feliciano, Shawn McGory, Steckel, Michael Tini and Mitchell Tozian. On Tuesday night, the latter four finished their fourth year with the program while Feliciano completed his second.

“What an amazing turnaround our program has had,” McCray said. “It’s all because of those type of kids. It’s because of the heart and soul that those kids play with.”