Jesuit High hungry to finish job, win baseball title

When Lance McCullers looks back on the last two years, he admits it's a bit painful. How could it not be?

As the Jesuit High senior baseball standout puts it, the Tigers were close enough to feel the state championship rings on their fingers, making consecutive appearances in the Class 4A state title game. Only it was the other team -- on both occasions, Archbishop McCarthy -- getting sized for the prized piece of jewelry when all was said and done.

"But you realize you live to fight another day," said McCullers, who talked about the silver lining that comes with those two silver medals. "This team, a lot of guys on here are returning guys and they felt that pain. They're working hard every single day, as hard as I've ever seen a Jesuit team work and looking as good as I've seen a Jesuit team look this early in the season.

"Coming so close but not getting it kind of pushes you that extra five minutes in the weight room, or extra poles you wouldn't have run, or extra 10 minutes of practice, those extra couple of great swings in the cage. I think everybody's striving to do a little bit more, trying to put us over the edge."

With the crop Jesuit has returning for the 2012 season, which begins this week, the Tigers certainly seem to have a fighting chance at getting back to the state baseball tournament in Port St. Lucie for a shot at redemption. All but five players, and just one starter, are back from the 2011 squad, and the 25-man roster is oozing with Division I talent, led by McCullers, a shortstop/pitcher who is considered one of the nation's top high school players.

"I think this is probably one of the deeper teams we've ever fielded," said Jesuit coach Richie Warren, who watched six of his seniors sign during the early period in November and has a handful of juniors already committed to major college programs. "There's going to be a lot of guys on this team who every day are fighting to play."

Few of the starting spots had been locked up before Jesuit hosted its preseason tournament last week, and the resulting payoff through the early practices has been huge. Workouts have been crisp and highly competitive with players trying to earn their way onto the field.

"Coaches have told us it's the opportunity to prove ourselves, and everybody's taking them up on that. Our practices have been fantastic," senior catcher Nolan Schultz said. "It does give us motivation to work has hard as you can."

And there's the added motivation that comes with the past.

Warren opted to hang those two state runner-up medals in the Jesuit clubhouse, in a spot where the players can view them every day on their way out to the field. The coach didn't say anything to his team prior to doing so or after. But then again, he didn't need to.

"(Assistant) coach (Geoff) Goetz uses a great analogy where it's like driving a car. You have that little mirror in front where you can see a little behind you, but you have that big windshield where you can see everything in front of you," Warren said. "We want to recognize the past but not put too much emphasis on it, and realize what kind of road we do have in front of us. We're proud of those state runner-ups, but would we like to have the state championship? Of course."