It was late March on Banks Street and Jesuit had just dropped its ninth game of the season, falling to one game above .500 after a 13-3 loss to Rummel.

The defeat also dropped the Blue Jays – the defending Class 5A state champion Blue Jays – to 0-2 in District 10-5A.

A little more than a month and a half later and that same Jesuit team has lost only one more game and reeled off 14 wins, including nine straight.

By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Jesuit junior Jordan Rittiner will put the Blue Jays on his back Friday when they play Acadiana in a Class 5A quarterfinal in Denham Springs.

And now – the Blue Jays are in the 5A quarterfinals, three wins away from defending that state championship that earlier this year seemed like an almost impossible task.

“It started to jell together when the kids started playing together when we finished our tournament round,” first-year head coach Tim Parenton said. “Early in the year, we still had question marks to get answered. They did.”

The Blue Jays play Acadiana Friday at 4 p.m. in Denham Springs, site of this year’s state tournament.

That’s a far cry from where the team stood on March 22 after that loss to Rummel. A lot has changed in the course of a month.

“We started of with everybody on their own,” junior pitching ace Jordan Rittiner said. “Now we’re all a team.”

“We’re coming together when the time is right and peaking,” senior Stephen Luckinovich said.

That includes two players the team desperately missed for much of the year. Seniors Scott Cronin and Manny Estrada missed multiple weeks of the year, Cronin with a broken jaw and Estrada after an appendectomy.

Both returned recently, and it’s coincided with Jesuit’s resurgence.

“Manny Estrada misses five weeks, Cronin misses eight or nine and they’re back,” Parenton said. “We’re a different team now. They’re playing with confidence.”

But it’s not just the return of two seniors that has instilled confidence in a young Blue Jays team. A history of 19 state championships helps, too.

“They see those championships on the second floor,” Parenton said. “You see the championship banners as you walk down the hall.”

Jesuit senior Stephen Luckinovich

And there’s one more thing that should instill a decent portion of confidence for Jesuit heading into Friday’s showdown.

Parenton will pitch Rittiner, a steady junior who has three pitches – a fastball, a slurve and a changeup – as well as big-time experience. He pitched in last year’s state tournament and finished the season 12-0.

“When he’s on the mound, guys relax,” Parenton said. “Why? Because he throws strikes. They know the game is going to be moving. They’re going to get plays to make. He’s going to strike guys out. They know what they’re getting when he’s on the mound.”

They also know he already has picked up a win against Acadiana this season. Jesuit beat the Wreckin’ Rams 8-0 in late April, the week before the playoffs began.

“We did pretty well,” Luckinovich said. “We’re hoping to come out and start hot and work from there.”