Senior Kyle Muller continued his dominance on the mound with an jaw-dropping 21 strikeouts, breaking a scoreless tie in the eighth inning to propel the No. 12 Jesuit Dallas Rangers to a 3-0, University Interscholastic League (UIL) District 9-6A triumph over Irving on Monday evening at Irving High School.
 
Muller carried a perfect game into the bottom of the seventh inning, striking out the first 18 batters in order before the Tigers recorded their first and only hit.  The senior would not allow a Irving runner into scoring position during the game, and with a seventh-inning ending double play, faced the minimum 24 batters in the win for the Rangers (17-4-2, 5-0-0), who improve their winning streak to a season-high five games. Muller also made a major splash at the plate, cracking an eighth-inning triple that opened the scoring, sparking a three-run eighth for the Blue and Gold. 
 
Over the last two contests, Muller has struck out a combined 36 batters, including 24 consecutive retired batters carrying over from the senior's five-inning no-hitter against Sunset on Mar. 18.  Securing his fourth win of the year, Muller improves his strikeout total to 66 on the year, with the senior's ERA falling to 0.27 after his eye-opening performance. In addition, Muller's 18 consecutive strikeouts on Tuesday closed a streak of 35 outs by the senior converted via strikeout, spanning from Muller's 5-1 win against Prosper on Mar. 10, continuing through his Mar. 18 win over Sunset before ending with a seventh-inning double play groundout.
 
Jesuit Dallas left three runners on base over the first seven innings before finally breaking through in the eighth.  Senior Pete Hamrick walked before Muller's center field triple brought home sophomore pinch runner Maccoy Lopez, spotting Jesuit a 1-0 lead.  A sacrifice fly by fourth year Bryce Bonner allowed senior pinch runner Chris Campagna to cross the plate for the Rangers' second run of the game, followed by senior Jared Kengott, who crushed his second home run of the year to left field for a 3-0 lead.  Muller struck out the first two batters of the Irving eighth, forcing a fly out to clinch the Jesuit Dallas win.
 
The Rangers, ranked No. 12 in the most recent TXHighSchoolBaseball.com poll, will host the Tigers on Friday, Apr. 1 at 7:30 p.m.