Vengeful is the only way to describe the SPA baseball season opener. After going 4-18 in the last season, the team headed out to play Eagle Ridge, a team that had blown them away the last time they met, SPA losing 2-10. After the hard loss to them last year, in addition to the rough season, boys’ baseball was hungry for a win to start the new season.
Sophomore John Grimsrud was the first pitcher for the game and, according to freshman catcher Aiden Rudiger, was a key component for the team’s success. His pitching and hitting started them off strong, giving the Spartans the early lead.
After slacking off a bit, Eagle Ridge went on a short run, but it wasn’t enough to come back with the game ending 10-7, SPA taking the win. When asked what they changed to give them their turnaround from last year, Rudiger said that it was the mentality that really made a difference. “We didn’t make any mental mistakes, which we had a lot of last year,” he said. According to Rudiger, staying focused throughout the game, no matter if they were up or down on the scoreboard, was one of the key things that they had improved upon from last season.
The team was not able to carry this momentum into the next game, where they had a tough 0-10 loss to Liberty Classical. After this big loss, the team was ready for another win, where they brought all their energy to win against Trinity.
Everything they worked on seemed to be working out for them; whether it was pitching or batting, they were unstoppable. Their dominant performance ended up in a 20-3 victory, giving their team a solid 2-1 record going into a tough game against divisional rivals Minnehaha. Even with momentum on their backs, it wasn’t enough to defeat the 3-2 Redhawks, the game ending 5-10.
The boys’ most recent game was under the big lights, where the team got to travel to the Target Center, the home of the Minnesota Twins, and even though they lost 4-0 to Highland Park leaving them with their current record of 2-3, this game was a highlight of the team’s season so far. Playing on this field was a dream come true for many of the players, and win or lose, it was a game nobody on the team would ever forget.
While the baseball team still has a lot of work to do, they are already seeing many improvements compared to last year and hope to keep getting better throughout the season with some tough games ahead, including the undefeated division rivals at Providence and a rematch against Minnehaha, they look to bring all their training from practice and what they have learned from their games to show their division that they are a team to be ready for when they see them on the schedule.
