Senior Night at Jesuit, was not what these 15 seniors expected .

Miguel Melendez and the Tigers won their fifth state championship last season.  This year Jesuit was off to a 9-0 start and ranked number one in the nation by several high school baseball publications.

"There’s not a lot of teams that get a chance to be preseason number one to begin with and there’s not a lot of teams that get to say that they were number one in the country at any point in the season", said Menendez, who won his first state title as a high school coach last year. 

But instead of defending their state title, the Tigers, like high schools athletes around the country, are trying to stay sharp in other ways. The Jesuit baseball team has been assigned a book by coach Menendez called, "Victory Favors The Flawless."

The purpose of the book is to get his players to take quotes from the book and relate them to experiences they have in the baseball season.

Menendez uses the computer meetings with his kids as a time to be able to stay in touch and continue his relationship with his players.

These meetings can take some of the sting off a promising season that was cut short, but for his returning players it also comes with a valuable lesson.

"This thing can be taken from you at any moment, you’re not guaranteed anything, so really take advantage of every opportunity every day and cherish that and really appreciate it,” Menendez said.

For Coach Menendez, these zoom sessions he started two years ago were all about challenging his players mentally off the field, so they can return stronger physically on it.

Last year’s state title is displayed proudly with the four others on the scoreboard, but it will also always serve as a reminder of the 2020 season that could have been.

"We’ll always have that what if, like I told our guys, hey, we we’re nine and oh and ranked number one in the country, I guess that makes us National Champs, Right?" Menendez said.