H. S. Baseball: What’s a Mother to do?
Written by Daniel Turner, Wednesday April 22 2009
Patrick Schuster’s mother is losing sleep, biting her nails and fretting over her son’s future. It has nothing to do with what the senior from Mitchell High School, New Port Richey; FL is wearing, what he listens to, the girl he’s dating, or the friends with which he hangs. Schuster’s mom is a nervous wreck because her son keeps adding to his string of no hit innings and she doesn’t want to see them stop.
Schuster has pitched four consecutive no hitters. His latest effort victimized rival Pasco High in a 5-0 win in front of a packed house. For the season Schuster is 7-0 with 60 strikeouts in his four game run. He K’d 17 Pasco batters in his last outing. His efforts have lent greatly to Mitchell’s 19-3 record.
While Schuster says he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about his achievement he does admit that he asks outfielders to play shallow in late innings to avoid a bloop hit. Coach Scot Wilcox thinks that Schuster is in a zone and states that his fastball, curve and slider have never appeared more deadly than they have during his no hitter streak.
Schuster tosses a 90mph fastball and has signed a letter of intent with the University of Florida. However, he does not rule out heading to the pros after graduating Mitchell. In the meantime, the record for consecutive no hitters by a high school pitcher is six, so the left hander is closing in on history. While he seems okay staring history in the face, his mother sweats out every mound outing.
While Schuster and Mitchell are piling up wins, they still have to look toward Jesuit, Tampa, FL as the better team. The Tigers sit atop the Max Prep top 10 with a 22-0 record. Jesuit was an improper host on the Easter weekend as they staged a tournament and beat up on the invitees.
They knocked off St. Petersburg Catholic in the championship game by a score of 6-2. They earned their way to the title with a 14-11 win over Knoxville Catholic and an 11-1 win over Xaverian. Individual stars were Lance McCullers who had two doubles against St. Petersburg and a home run against Xaverian. Greg Dupell went 3-3 against Knoxville with a homer and a double for 5 RBI and Willi Martin pitched a two hitter against Xaverian.
They followed their Easter Tournament with a win over Tampa Catholic by a score of 12-9 and conclude their regular season on April 22 with a game against Sarasota. The Sailors do not appear to be in the same class as the Tigers and it is unlikely they will spoil St. Petersburg’s perfect season.
As teams prepare for their post season Mater Dei, Santa Ana, CA moved from 14th to ninth place in the nation by winning the prestigious Anderson Bat National Classic. They won the championship game over El Toro by a 2-1 score and beat previously undefeated Notre Dame Prep of Arizona 7-0 in the semis. Aaron Northcraft was named top pitcher of the tournament for his two hit effort over the Saints of Notre Dame.
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