Stratford vs. Northbrook – Wednesday, March 19

District play continued this week as the JV squad finally got to host a game this week. The Northbrook Raiders came to the Backyard and did not enjoy their visit. The Spartans would sweep the doubleheader highlighted by an outstanding effort on the mound by Liam Shultz in the first game. The sophomore right-hander would throw 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing 0 hits and 7 Ks. Juniors Carter Saunders (2-3, 2 Rs) and Anthony Castillo (2-2, 2 RBIs) led the way on offense, while Peter Hebert, Caden Stone, Manny Estrada, Jack Sullivan, and Lucas Burgman also chipped in with hits to help Stratford to a 9-5 victory.

The nightcap would feature another dominant pitching performance, as sophomore Jack Hope threw a complete game, 1-hit shutout. The big righty struck out 10 Raiders in 5 innings and cruised on the mound as Northbrook struggled to put any balls in play. The Spartans would score 4 runs in the second inning and never looked back on the way to a 6-0 victory. Freshman Peter Hebert (2-3, 3B, RBI) and Jack Sullivan (1-2, 2B, RBI, 2 SBs) ignited the Stratford offense as they improved to 3-1 in District play.

Stratford @ Kingwood Park – Saturday, March 22

The Spartans traveled to Kingwood Park High School on Saturday for a midseason non-District contest against the Panthers. Stratford would get on the board with 2 runs in the first inning after junior Luke Tamez led off the game with a line-drive triple down the leftfield line and Luke Szilagyi followed with an RBI single. Unfortunately, that’s where the Spartans’ scoring would end as the offense struggled the rest of the game to produce baserunners. Kingwood Park tallied 6 hits and 8 walks to plate 7 runs and come away with a 7-2 win.

District play continues this week at Jersey Village on Wednesday night. Go Spartans!