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District Opener
Stratford Spartans vs. Cypress Creek Cougars, Tuesday, February 11th
Before Spring Break could begin for the Baseball crew, District baseball games were on deck last week for all 3 levels. The Varsity Boys opened on the road against the Cy Creek Cougars. Last year they split the season series against the Cougars. This year the 2025 edition of the Spartans was looking to open on a high note and start 2-0 in District play. Junior right-hander Drew Emery was called upon by Coach Josh Hall in Game 1. The big righty was dominant on the hill all game. Emery kept the Cougars at bay all game with his array of off-speed pitches and dialing up the fastball when he needed it. Cy Creek was unable to solve Emery over a complete, 7-inning game performance. Emery let the arsenal of arms at Coach Hall’s disposal rest on this day with a dominant 7-inning, 13-strikeout, no-hit performance. His second no-hitter on the season!
The offense struggled to put runs on the board early but broke through for a single run in the second inning. Senior Blake Barry laced a line-drive, 1-out single to left to set the table. Junior Will McCarroll would keep the inning going with a 2-out single to right, advancing Barry to second. On a second pitch, Senior Owen Bennett saw he drove home Barry with a line-drive to center to open the scoring for the Spartans. In the top of the 5th, Bennett would lead the inning off with a single, followed by Senior Peter Vescovo’s single to center to put runners at 1st and 3rd with 0 outs. Sophomore Ryan Lamon made the score 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to left to score Bennett. Stratford added a big-time insurance run in the top half of the 7th inning to give Emery more support as he tried to close it out in the bottom half. Bennett led the inning off with a walk and swiped second to give Lamon a 2-out opportunity to add to the run total. Lamon answered with a line-drive double to left center, scoring Bennett. Three runs proved to be enough on this day as Emery closed out the Spartans in the 7th to get the 2025 District season off on the right foot!
Highlights
District Game 2
Stratford Spartans vs. Cypress Creek Cougars, Wednesday February 12th
The Backyard was set up to host the second game of the District opener on Wednesday. A windy day, but perfect baseball weather brought out the fans to support the boys in this one. Senior Ford Givens would toe the rubber at The Backyard for the Spartans. He would get offensive support early from the offense. The bats were awake early on this chamber-of-commerce day with Sparty jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead. Senior Owen Bennett opened the game with a walk, followed by a wall-banging double by Sophomore Ryan Lamon to put runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Senior Chris Johnson would wear a fast ball on the first pitch he saw to load the bases for Junior Luke Zilafro. Zuke drove in Bennett with an RBI ground-out to third. Senior Blake Barry gave the Spartans their second run in the inning with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Lamon.
The Cougars put a single run on the board in the 2nd after a Spartan miscue, walk, and base hit. Givens was able to work around it and hold the lead at 2-1. Stratford added 2 more runs in the second to widen their lead. Senior Ranes Denman led off the inning with a walk. Junior Brandon Phillips followed with a hard single to right. Bennett continued his hot streak from Game 1 by singling home Denman to make it 3-1, good guys. Not to be outdone, Lamon laced a line-drive down the leftfield line, scoring Bennett, who had just swiped second base to get into scoring position.
The aggressive 2-out approach by Coach Josh Hall is showing out on the diamond more and more each game. Givens would exit after 2 innings of work and striking out 2, making way for Sophomore Quinn Fitzpatrick to get his first work in a District 17-6A ball game. The big righty was unhittable on this day, dancing around 92-94 mph over 3 innings. The fastball and big sweeper proved to be just too much for the Cougars on this day. Quinn lasted 3 innings and struck out 5, while allowing no hits or runs to the opposition. The Spartans added another run in the home half of the 4th inning. Junior Matthew De Jager smoked a double to the left centerfield gap to set the table for Bennett once again. Owen would stay perfect at the plate in District with an RBI-single to center to score De Jager to make it 5-1 Spartans. More insurance was coming in the bottom of the 6th when Chris Johnson reached base on an error by the Cougar first baseman. Zilafro followed by also reaching base on another miscue by the Cougar infield. With 2 runners on base, the RBI machine named Blake Barry stepped to the plate and responded. Barry sent a shot to center over the centerfielder to score Johnson and courtesy runner Senior Gavin Mundwiller, making it 7-1, green. Junior Will McCarroll came on for the final 2 innings of relief to strike out 2 and close this one out, giving the Spartans the start they wanted, 2-0 to open District 17-6A play. Coach Hall has his boys rolling with 12 wins in their last 14 games and playing their best baseball as they roll into the thick of their District schedule. Come out and support this team during week 2 of District play!
Highlights
This week for the Spartans!