A week after losing his spot in the Jesuit pitching rotation, J.J. Montenegro kept the Rangers' playoff drive alive for another week.
The junior right-hander who wears the No. 13 recorded his second win in 13 hours to spearhead Jesuit's 3-0 triumph over Conroe Oak Ridge in the final game of the best-of-3 Class 6A Region II semifinal series Saturday at Dallas Baptist University's Horner Ballpark.
Jesuit (33-8-2), ranked No. 6 in the Class 6A state coaches poll, advanced to the Region II championship round and will play Humble Atascocita. Jesuit has a chance to make it to the state tournament for the second consecutive season.
Montenegro (7-4), the winner in relief in Game 2, said he did not find out he was going to start until shortly before Game 3.
"Everybody had to be ready, and it worked out," he said. "But I think I'd rather have known Friday night."
He limited Oak Ridge (23-13) to four hits (all singles) and one walk in 6 1/3 innings. Jacob Palisch earned his second Game 3 save in eight days by getting the final two outs.
In Friday's 3-2 11-inning Jesuit victory in Game 2, Montenegro pitched the final two frames.
"J.J. showed so much confidence on Friday," Jesuit coach Brian Jones said. "He didn't throw enough pitches to hardly break a sweat, so we decided to go with him. He's had a couple of tough outings lately, but we are going to go with the guys that got us here, and he's one of those.''
In Montenegro's last start, a 13-6 playoff loss to Belton on May 13, he was charged with six runs in three innings. In last week's regional quarterfinal series against Highland Park, he did not get a start.
"I learned that I can't try to strike everybody out and that I need to pitch to contact and trust my defense," he said.
Not until the sixth did Montenegro face a pressure situation. With one out, DeMarco Thomas walked on four pitches and Addison Moss singled. After a visit to the mound by pitching coach Sean Gavin, Montenegro retired Michael Lawson on a sharp grounder to first with both runners moving up a base. With the tying run in scoring position, Montenegro gloved Tyler Davis' come-backer and flipped to first baseman Pete Hamrick to maintain a two-run lead.
"I challenged him a little," Gavin said. "I asked him if he was done and he said he still had some left in the tank."
Bryce Bonner's triple to left-center staked Jesuit to a 1-0 lead in the first. Hamrick, on first after a two-out single, was running on the pitch and scored easily.
"Getting an early run was so important," said Jones. "It allowed us to be more aggressive."
Hamrick made it 2-0 in the fifth when he grounded a single to center, scoring Kyle Muller from third. Muller reached on a base hit, stole second and went to third on a passed ball.
Senior Jared Bond increased the lead to 3-0 with a solo home run, his seventh, in the sixth inning on the last pitch thrown by Moss, the Oak Ridge starter.
In its run to the state tournament last year, Jesuit swept Oak Ridge for the Region II title. The War Eagles graduated 19 players from that team and returned only three starters.
"It was two good teams getting after it," Oak Ridge coach Mike Pirtle said. "They got the big hit early for a run. Give their pitcher credit. He had us popping the ball up."
Experience in three straight Game 3's, while nerve-wracking, has worked to Jesuit's advantage.
Said Jones: "Being in all these pressure games has got to help."