Jessie Riojas has built a record of sending Southeast Texas Jays players to the college ranks.

But, it’s not so much a matter of that to the showcase team’s coach, who is also Memorial’s head baseball coach.

“It’s about coaching them up, helping them with what they need to get better at and building relationships for a lifetime,” Riojas said.

He’s helped Port Neches-Groves middle infielder Hunter Curtis and Hardin-Jefferson left-hand pitcher Garrett Neale fine-tune their game. Both of them signed letters of intent at Port Arthur’s Reel Cajun restaurant Wednesday night; Curtis to NCAA Division III Centenary College of Louisiana and Neale to Alvin Community College.

https://www.facebook.com/100000033021867/videos/2132208126790267/?id=100000033021867

“He’s been on me for years now,” said Curtis, who helped PNG win the UIL 5A state championship in 2017. “He taught me to respect the game and play the right way. If you play the right way, good things will happen. If you disrespect the game, things aren’t going to work out the way you’d like them to.”

Centenary coaches saw Curtis play in June and asked Riojas about him. Riojas said Curtis has come a long way with his game, as has Neale.

Centenary, located in Shreveport, is a former Division I college that has competed in the non-scholarship Division III since 2011. Centenary went 26-16 last season and won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title this past spring before losing in the championship round of the SCAC tournament to Texas Lutheran.

Neale helped Hardin-Jefferson finish as District 23-4A runner-up and beat Houston Washington in the bi-district round before running into Bridge City in the area round.

“Garrett doesn’t throw 90, but he throws strikes and he gets outs,” Riojas said. “That’s a big plus for him, and that’s what Alvin liked in him.”

•

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews