Getting off to a good start in any sport is important, but the Spartans baseball team took that to another level when they had their home opening series against Wichita South on Friday. In both games, the Spartans used big first innings to run-rule the Titans en route to a series sweep.
Game one of the series saw senior Luke Marshall get the start and pitch two good innings for the Spartans. He finished with no hits allowed, no runs allowed, struck out five batters, walked two, and hit one while earning the win. Offensively, the Spartans used eight walks, two hits, and a couple of errors to score 14 runs in the first inning. Sophomore Oliver Kline had one of the two hits, a two-RBI triple, and junior Jackon Meinke singled in two more.
“I thought we came out a little flat in terms of how we approach the game, but we talked to our guys about being aggressive at the plate and seeing what we could do at the plate,” Head Coach Anthony Markowitz said. “Once we did that, we got a little more confident. Sitting back and watching pitches go by and getting walks is great, but we want to be aggressive, and we want to continue getting better at the plate, and I think we did that.”
The Spartans would win game one 16-0 on five hits, eight walks, and four Titan errors. The second game of the doubleheader saw Meinke get the start, and he had a clean two innings of work, striking out four batters and walking two before junior Grayson Combes took over on the bump. Markowitz adds that once his team got a feel for the game and the strike zone, they were able to hit balls hard.
Once again, the first inning offense was great for the Spartans as they scored 13 runs. They used seven hits, three walks, a hit by pitch, and Titan errors to get out to the big lead. After a quieter second inning for both teams, the third inning saw the Titans scratch across a run after Combes gave up a walk followed by an RBI double. Despite that inning, Combes was dominant on the mound, striking out eight batters and only walking one in his three innings of work.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Spartans tacked on two more runs in the inning to finalize a 15-1 final score. While the offense took the headline, the pitching staff had a good day overall, going eight innings, striking out 20 batters, walking five, allowing two hits, and only one run.
“Every guy that came out threw strikes. They struggled after a long inning offensively for us, and so we talked to the guys about that and how to stay loose and learn from that situation,” Markowitz said. “The three guys that pitched today did a great job and we just got to keep filling up the strike zone and working ahead in the count and good things will happen.”
With the sweep, the Spartans move to 3-1 on the season and will have a break before their next series against Wichita West. They will have a week off as the series will begin on April 3, as the Spartans will travel to Wichita West.