Page Search
District Play Week 3
Stratford Spartans vs. Jersey Village Falcons, Tuesday March 25th, 2025
Week 3 got underway on the road at Jersey Village High School Tuesday night. The weather was perfect for this 17-6A match-up. Junior right-hander Drew Emery was on the mound for the Spartans to take on a scrappy Falcons squad. Drew has been a bulldog this year for Coach Hall’s squad when he has been called upon. Tonight was no different. Emery would give his team 5 strong innings on the bump, striking out 4 Falcons and not allowing an earned run. He would keep the Falcons off-balance all night, giving his offense a chance to rattle the scoreboard and take the lead. That is just what the bats did in the 4th inning. In a scoreless game headed into the top of the 4th, Senior Chris Johnson led the inning off with a sharp single to right field. Senior Blake Barry and Junior Matthew De Jager followed with free passes to load the bases. Junior Will McCarroll took the count to 3-2, and on the very next pitch, sent a missile to the right centerfield wall, clearing the bases and ending up on second base with a double. Just like that, 3-0 Spartans. The boys weren’t done there. Senior Gavin Mundwiller got the party started again with a walk, and Senior Owen Bennett would reach on a hard-hit ball the shortstop for the Falcons couldn’t handle. With runners on second and third and one out, Senior Rylan Reichenau stepped to the plate. Reichenau produced a hard-hit line-drive down the third base line for a double, scoring Mundwiller and Bennett to make it 6-0 Spartans. Junior Luke Zilafro was not going to be left out of the party…he followed with a single to left, scoring Reichenau.
After all the ringing of the bats in the top half of the 4th inning by the Spartans, Emery walked out to the mound with a 8-0 lead. Stratford would add two more runs to their total with RBI’s by Zilafro and Junior Brandon Phillips to cushion their lead. When the final out was recorded, the boys in Green got on the bus with a 10-4 road win to reach 5-0 in District 17-6A play. They will be back at it for Game 2 later in the week at The Backyard.
Highlights
Stratford Spartans vs. Jersey Village Falcons, Saturday March 29th, 2025
It was a wild couple of days before this one could get started. Friday night saw both teams prepare to play at 7:00 pm at the Backyard with stands packed with fans. Coaches, SBISD Staff, and players worked tirelessly to get the field in playing condition before the game. The field was in great shape and ready to go! Unfortunately, the game wasn’t to be played due to the soggy conditions and an opposing coach who thought he needed another day before his next 17-6A loss. So…both teams showed back up at The Backyard at 12:00 pm on Saturday for a sunny day of baseball on a dry baseball field!
The Falcons jumped out front early in the first on a couple of miscues by the Spartans and a hit, making it 1-0 after a half-inning of play. Senior right-hander Caden Cooper would settle in after the first and quiet the opposing bats in a big way. The U of H commit gave Coach Josh Hall 3 strong innings of work, striking out 3, and only allowing the 1 hit in the first inning. Turns out that would be the only hit the Falcons could muster on this great day for baseball. A tough Saturday bus ride it turned out to be for them…The bottom of the second saw the Spartans jump out on top to a lead they would never relinquish. Senior Chris Johnson would begin the inning with a towering shot to right field for a lead-off double. The score would get knotted at 1 when courtesy runner Senior Gavin Mundwiller scored on an error by the catcher. Junior Matthew De Jager and Junior Zach Christie reached via free passes to put runners on first and second. Senior Peter Vescovo stepped to the plate and delivered with a line drive down the left field line, scoring De Jager from second base and making it 2-1, Sparty. The bottom of the 3rd saw more offense from the Spartans to extend the lead. Senior Rylan Reichenau led the inning off with a walk, followed by Junior Luke Zilafro getting beaned by a fastball to place runners on 1st and 2nd. Johnson would load the bases with a walk for De Jager. A line drive to center field scored Reichenau and Zilafro to extend the lead to 4-1. More offense in the 4th from the Spartans began with a lead-off triple to the left center field wall by Sophomore Ryan Lamon. He would trot home when Senior Owen Bennett doubled on a deep fly-ball to right to make the score 5-1. More runs to follow when Zilafro joined in on the hit parade with a single to center, scoring Bennett. Not to be outdone, Johnson banged one off the right center field 360 ft sign for a ringing double, scoring Zilafro. Before the Falcon players and coaches could dry off their hands from a damp and beat-up baseball, they looked up at the score board and it was 7-1, good guys.
Sophomore Flame Thrower Quinn Fitzpatrick was on the mound to start the top of the 4th. The radar guns were popping off 92-93-94 mph readings that the Jersey Village squad didn’t want any part of. Fitzpatrick struck out 5 over his 2 innings of work, touching mid 90’s on almost every fastball out of his hand. Stratford added another run in the 5th for insurance when Vescovo opened the inning with a sharp single to center, followed by another line drive to center by Lamon. With runners on 1st and 3rd and no outs, Reichenau drove a ball center, deep enough for Vescovo to tag up and score making it 8-4 Spartans. It was 9-4 Spartans when Zilafro once again was beaned by a fastball to reach first. Johnson followed that by laying down a perfect drag bunt single that induced a Falcon throwing error, allowing Zilafro to score from first base! Senior Lefty Ford Givens (Washington University Commit) came in over the final 2 innings to close out the wet and soggy Falcons and earn the save. Givens was dominant and efficient over his 2 innings of work, only throwing 27 pitches and striking out 2. After 3 weeks of District play, the Spartans sit atop the standings at 6-0 in a tie with their district rival Ponies.
Highlights
This week for the Spartans!