Hellmers, Moran combine to no-hit Curtis as Jesuit stays unbeaten in district

METAIRIE – With a pair of aces on the mound in Will Hellmers of Jesuit and Dax Ford of John Curtis Christian, runs figured to be hard to come by Monday night at Mike Miley Stadium. Contact was even harder to come by.

Hellmers was brilliant and he combined with Will Moran on a no-hitter in a 2-0 victory over the Patriots.

Jesuit managed to put the ball in play just enough as the Blue Jays remained unbeaten and alone in first place in Catholic League play.

Ford was outstanding but Hellmers was simply superb.

Coming off of a three-hit shutout of St. Augustine in which he walked no one and struck out 12, Hellmers was even better this time around for five innings before struggling in the sixth inning.

Hellmers pitched six innings, allowing a run on no hits. He walked four, hit three batters and struck out 15 to puck up his fifth victory of the season. Moran picked up where Hellmers left off, striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the no-hitter for his first save.

As a result, 18 of the 21 outs recorded by Jesuit were by strikeouts against the three-time defending 9-5A champion and two-time defending Division I state champion Patriots. It was a game that featured 31 strikeouts by the two teams combined.

“It was definitely an intense, emotional game between both sides and even in the stands,” Hellmers said. “We came out on top in that intensity, we got fired up and were ready to play. Them winning state last year was a big motivation for us this season. Dax did an outstanding job but we got those two runs and that was all we needed.”

Jesuit (18-6, 5-0) took the lead in the top of the second. Brian Valigosky and Tripp Haddad singled and with two outs, Joel Guerra lined an RBI single to center, scoring Valigosky to make it 1-0.

The Blue Jays added an important run in the top of the fifth as Ford walked Parker Serio, Chris Favalora and Seth Dardar to load the bases before a wild pitch scored courtesy runner Luke Eccles to make it 2-0.

Hellmers hit the wall in the bottom of the sixth, walking the bases loaded before Michael Curtis grounding out to second, scoring Logan O’Neill to make it 2-1. After hitting Joel Taylor to load the bases, on a 3-2 pitch, Hellmers got Richard Woodruff looking on a close pitch to strand the bases loaded.

Hellmers threw 112 pitches.

“It was a big win,” Jesuit coach Kenny Goodlett said. “Give them a lot of credit. Dax Ford did a heck of a job tonight on the mound. Our kids kept battling. We came up with a big, clutch hit from Joel Guerra and Will Hellmers, what else can I say? The kid was pretty good tonight. Will Moran coming in a clutch situation gave us a chance to win. I probably left him (Hellmers) one hitter too many. Will did a great job tonight. Runs were at a premium tonight. We were blessed to get two and one more than them.”

Dante Dufuchard relieved Ford, who threw 103 pitches in six innings, and pitched a scoreless seventh inning, including a strikeout. Ford pitched six innings allowing two runs on three hits. He walked five, hit a batter and struck out 12 for the Patriots (9-12, 3-4) as Curtis finished with 13 strikeouts of the 21 outs obtained against Jesuit.

“We just didn’t put the ball in play enough,” Patriots coach Jeff Curtis said. “That’s kind of been our Achilles heel, especially with Dax on the mound. We just can’t get him any run support. Tip your cap to Hellmers tonight. I thought he did a fantastic job tonight. We just have to be better offensively. That’s kind of been the story for us all year. We’ve had a ton of one-run games. We just haven’t come up with that clutch hit. We’re close but it’s getting late and close isn’t going to be good enough.”

The two teams will conclude their series Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at John Ryan Stadium. Goodlett feels good about where his team is right now.

“I do, I do,” Goodlett said. “We know that we’ve got Curtis again on Thursday, we expect a really tough game and we’re looking forward to it.”

Final
Jesuit 010 010 0 2 4 0, 6 LOB
Curtis 000 001 x 1 0 0, 6 LOB
WP—Will Hellmers (5-1)
LP—Dax Ford (3-4)
SAVE—Will Moran (1)
Time of Game: 1:45
SB—Will Moran