On March 1, 2025, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) baseball team, with a 4-3 win against Oxnard High School under their belt, completed the back-to-back with a 4-0 win against Saint Monica Preparatory (St. Monica) in their first home game of the season.
Connor Nelles ‘26 led the Dragons to victory with a complete game shutout as he recorded four strikeouts while giving up only four hits. On the hitting side of the game, Aiden Gomez ‘25 and Robert (Juju) Juker ‘26 spearheaded the Dragons’ offense with one and two runs batted in respectively along with three hits each.
Nelles got his game going on the mound with his first scoreless inning as he forced two groundouts and a flyout to center. Similarly, Foothill Tech got their bats going early in the bottom of the first inning with a series of two out hits from Gomez and Juker to earn the Dragons their first run of the game. However, the damage was limited as St. Monica was able to keep the score at 1-0.
With runners on first and second, St. Monica looked to get on the board in the top of the second inning. However, Nelles kept focus and forced a groundout to short where Gomez made a tough play to second to keep the shutout in order.
Nelles went on to throw his best inning so far in the game in the third as he threw his first two strikeouts back-to-back to send St. Monica into the fourth inning scoreless once more. Despite Foothill Tech’s defense resembling nothing short of a brick wall, the Dragons could not get anything going on offense as they were similarly shutout in three consecutive innings.
Connor Nelles ‘26 spoke on his pitching performance, “pitching went great today, but I’ve got to give props to defense.”
Davin Arth ‘27 added on, “Me and Connor, we’re always dialed and he’s always delivering strikes … our pitchers are dialed right now.”
The top of the fifth inning saw traffic on the bases for St. Monica as they looked to finally make noise late in the game. Foothill Tech’s defense proved to be too strong however as third baseman Cain Ebrahim ‘28 saved a run at home and Arth threw down the runner at second to end the inning.
Arth reflected on his putouts behind the plate, “I mean, what can I say … now they know.”
The fifth inning was eventful for the Dragons on the offensive side as Arth, Gomez and Juker continued to shine in the batter’s box. Arth, with aggressive baserunning, drove home a run with help from an error committed by St. Monica along with Gomez and Juker both with a single and a triple, respectively, helping to widen Foothill Tech’s lead to 4-0.
Nelles along with the help of the Foothill Tech defense held their momentum throughout the entire game closeing out their final shutout inning in the seventh.
Head Coach Mike Haas commented on the team’s early-season performance, “These guys right now are playing with no fear … they put in the work through fall and at the beginning of the season and we’re in midseason form right now … we’re taking hard hacks, playing good defense and playing together as a team.”
