Tampa Catholic is 0-10 against Jesuit since February of 2020 but things could change on Friday. The Tampa Catholic Crusaders will square off against the Jesuit Tigers at 7:00 p.m. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Tampa Catholic comes in on 11 and Jesuit on seven.
On Tuesday, Tampa Catholic earned a 6-1 win over Shorecrest Prep.
Drew Dunlop
| 03/04/25 vs Shorecrest Prep | 1 |
| 02/28/25 vs St. Petersburg | 2 |
| 02/20/25 @ Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate | 2 |
| 02/13/25 @ Berkeley Prep | 2 |
Tampa Catholic got a great performance from Drew Dunlop as he struck out ten batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit. Dunlop has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two hits any time he's pitched this season.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Cole Bitman, who went 1-for-3 with one home run and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Carson Arnold, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Jesuit faced Neumann in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Tuesday. Jesuit came out on top in a nail-biter against Neumann, sneaking past 2-0.
Ryan Thompson tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out 11 over 4.2 innings pitched. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in strikeouts.
On the hitting side, Jesuit saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Christian Sheffield, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3.
Tampa Catholic pushed their record up to 11-0 with the victory, which was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for Jesuit, their record now sits at 8-1.
Jesuit's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Tampa Catholic hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .326. It's a different story for Jesuit, though, as they've only averaged .236. Will they be able to contain Tampa Catholic's hitters?
Tampa Catholic came up short against Jesuit in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, falling 4-0. Can Tampa Catholic avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
