With the season on the line, the Jesuit Dallas junior contingent came through in the clutch, advancing the No. 6 Rangers, 3-2, past the Highland Park Scots in game three of the University Interscholastic League (UIL) 6A Region II Quarterfinal on Saturday at Prosper High School.

Ranger third year Heath Vankirk logged an incredible performance on the rubber, earning his third win of the year, striking out seven while allowing two runs on four hits.  Fellow junior Will Guzman drove in the game-tying run in the fourth and the go-ahead run in the sixth, finishing the afternoon 3-for-3 with two RBI.

Seniors Pete Hamrick and Matt Horvath logged two hits each, including a game-tying single by Hamrick in the fifth.  Junior JT Mix added a 1-for-3 afternoon, scoring a run while forcing a walk.  Hamrick and fellow senior Jared Bond scored the Rangers' other two runs.

Saturday's win closes an incredible series between the two teams separated by mere miles on the Dallas North Tollway.  Junior Jacob Palisch, who threw a no-hitter in a 4-0 Jesuit Dallas game one victory, secured the save on Saturday, striking out three of four batters faced in the seventh.

Vankirk struck out four batters through the first three innings, only allowing one hit to the Scots.  In the first, a 4-6-3 double play eradicated an early Highland Park base runner, one of several crucial defensive plays for the Rangers on the afternoon.  The offense started to gain momentum in the fourth with the score tied, 0-0, when Hamrick led off with a single to right before advancing to second on a wild pitch.

Guzman took a 1-0 pitch to deep left field, ricocheting off of Prosper's "Green Monster", an homage to Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox, to score junior pinch runner Michael Schoettmer and open the scoring.  Highland Park scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a one-run lead before the Rangers were able to strike again in the fifth.

Mix reached base on a full-count walk, stealing second and scoring on a shot down the right field line by Hamrick, tying the contest.  VanKirk made quick work of the Scots' fifth inning, retiring the side in 11 pitches.  Bond forced a four-pitch walk to lead off the sixth, bringing up Guzman. 

The junior launched a deep line drive to center, which deflected off of the Highland Park center fielder's glove and rolled to the warning track.  Bond beat the throw home to give the Rangers their second lead of the ballgame.

Palisch took the mound in relief of VanKirk in the seventh, striking out the first and second batters he faced.  After the potential tying run reached on a walk, Palisch ended the game on a strikeout, sending Jesuit to the fourth round of the UIL 6A Baseball State Tournament for the second consecutive year.

Jesuit Dallas will either play Lake Travis or Conroe Oak Ridge in the Region II Semifinal.  Lake Travis won the first game of the series, 13-0, and the two squads will faceoff in game two on Saturday afternoon.