Sophomore Baseball - April 19

The Spartans jumped out to an early 8-0 lead on their District rivals thanks to sloppy play by the Mustangs in the bottom of the first. The offense was led by Brandon Phillips (1-3, double, 2 RBI’s) and Lucas Dominguez (1-2, triple, 2 SB’s). Jax Blundell and Matthew DeJager would also drive in runs with singles in the first inning. Zach Christie got the start on the mound and pitched a solid 4 innings, allowing 2 earned runs with 4 K’s. Will Tacker was also impressive in relief (1 IP, 0 R, 2 K’s). Memorial would not go away unfortunately as they would answer with 8 runs in the top of the 5th inning to complete a huge comeback win. Spartans lose 12-8.

The second game of the night started with solid pitching from both sides and was tied 1-1 through 2 innings. Carsten Vasut had the highlight of the evening with an acrobatic over-the-shoulder catch in left field that saved a run. Sophomore Cole Youngblood (2-2/3 IP, 3 K’s) kept Stratford in the game before running into some trouble in the third. The Mustangs would take advantage of free base runners to take an 8-1 lead. Jackson Holz (1 IP, 0 R, 2 K’s) came in to stop the bleeding, and the Spartans would try to wake up the bats in the home-half of the last inning. Grayson Granda would get the rally started, with Anthony Castillo, Lucas Dominguez, Jax Blundell, and Nick Gioco also adding big hits, but the Spartan comeback would fall short, and they’d lose another heartbreaker 8-7.

The Spartans would play a bonus game at Memorial HS on Saturday and lose 11-5, with all runs being scored in the first inning - a game everyone in green would like to forget. After a disappointing rivalry week, the Spartan Sophomore Team (9-6-2) will try and finish the season strong at Jersey Village next week.