BOX |  PLAYS |  CUMULATIVE: Calvary Christian | Jesuit

CARY, N.C. -- Calvary Christian took advantage of four Jesuit errors in a 3-1 victory over Jesuit as both starting pitchers battled back and forth all night in the opening round of the 2023 National High School Invitational presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance.

With the win, Calvary Christian (1-0) advances to face Huntington Beach (1-0) in tomorrow’s quarterfinal.

The name of the game was pitching, as both starters were in control from the jump. Calvary Christian’s Hunter Dietz (1-0) picked up the win, striking out seven batters and giving up just three hits in his five innings of one-run ball. Noble Meyer (0-1) suffered the tough-luck loss after giving up two hits and three unearned runs. He finished with 10 strikeouts in seven complete innings.

Both teams combined to tally just five hits. JT Long (1-for-3, RBI) and Alex Monile (1-for-3) were the only Crusaders to get a hit off Meyer. For Jesuit, Ryan Cooney (1-for-4), Levi Jones (1-for-3), and Meyer (1-for-2) were the only hitters to pick up hits.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• Jesuit’s Ryan Cooney led off with a single, and Levi Jones followed with a double to the left-center gap to put two in scoring position in the bottom of the first inning. The Crusaders then scratched one across the plate on an RBI groundout from Brock Leitgeb to take an early 1-0 lead.
• Calvary Christian loaded the bases in the top of the third thanks to an error, a single by Alex Monile, and an Andrew Tess walk, but Jesuit escaped the jam to hold on to its lead, 1-0.
• Calvary Christian took the lead in the top of the sixth inning thanks to three Jesuit errors. With runners on second and third, a fielding and throwing error by the Crusader second baseman pushed two runs across the plate to take a 2-1 lead.
• With a runner on second base, JT long tacked on the third run of the fifth inning with an RBI-single to center to score Blake Opie as Calvary Christian took a 3-1 lead.

NOTABLE INFORMATION

• Calvary Christian’s starting pitcher Hunter Dietz (1-0) picked up the win, striking out seven batters and giving up just one run on three hits in five innings.
• Noble Meyer (0-1) suffered the tough-luck loss for Jesuit, giving up three unearned runs in a complete-game effort. Meyer struck out 10 batters for the Crusaders and surrendered just two hits and two walks.
• Landen Maroudis (1) picked up the save for Calvary Christian after two innings of perfect relief, striking out two.
• Jesuit suffered defensively as the team surrendered four errors on the day.

ON DECK

• Calvary Christian moves on to face Huntington Beach in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
• Jesuit will face Basha in a consolation matchup.

All games of the 2023 NHSI will be streamed on USABaseball.TV and @USABaseballTV on YouTube.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Stay tuned with all of the action at the 2023 National High School Invitational by following @USABEvents on Twitter and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Fans and media can use #NHSI23 in their posts.