TJ Baseball began its season against Golden, Gateway, Aurora Central and Cherry Creek and came away 2-2.
Photo by Ed Gloor
On Thursday, March,8 the Spartans went up against the Golden Demons and left with a loss of 10-4, after blowing a three run lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.
TJ came out of the dugout quickly, swinging the bats and scoring the first run of the season. When taking the field, the Spartans were unable to “play catch” and made multiple errors to allow Golden to get on top. TJ then scored three runs in the next four innings and took the three run lead. Senior firstbaseman Evan Walter hit his first homerun of the season. Golden then had a productive fifth inning, and all with two outs none the less.
TJ had multiple fielding errors in the game, and was unable to get into the dugout with a quick three outs, and lost the game with only seven more outs to record. TJ’s pitching staff actually had a great game on the bump, by only allowing six earned runs in the midst of some bad defense. A disappointed Head Coach Robby Bales said the next day at practice, “We need to go out in the next game and put away (Gateway) early.” Gateway has always been considered a weaker opponent by most teams, but Bales didn’t see it that way. “They have eleven returning seniors. That is eleven baseball players tired of being pushed around the last four years.”
On Saturday, March 10, TJ then moved on to Gateway, and put a beat down on the Olympians, with Walter hitting his second homerun of the season, a Grand Slam, and won the game 16-3.
TJ really never gave the Olympians a chance to breath in this game, and knocked them out right away by going up by eight runs in the first two innings. Walter drove in four runs with one swing of the bat with a 400 foot bomb over the center field wall. “I saw the ball and I hit the ball,” said Walter.
TJ’s Sam Reed got the start and had a great outing only allowing seven runs and three earned runs in six innings pitched. Bales then handed the ball to Walter to get the easy close, and the first win of the season for the Spartans. With the momentum of the Gateway game, TJ went to Aurora Central next to see if they could start a small winning streak.
In the game against Aurora Central, on March 13, TJ continued their domination and got a great outing from Brandon Gonzales and won the game 19-0.
TJ got off to another hot start in this game and was up 14 after only three innings of play. The Spartans also filled up the offensive stat sheet with a .515 average for the game and 17 total hits. Walter had another great game, going 3-for-3 with one RBI. Gonzales continued to dominate on the mound pitching, giving up one hit in the nine batters he faced.
TJ’s momentum was up at an all-time high as they were going into facing the hardest team of the season, Cherry Creek. Creek is considered a perennial favorite to win the 5A sate championship each year, and TJ was going to have to play a great game to have a chance.
As much as TJ stuffed the stat sheet against Aurora Central, they left it just as empty against Creek as they were no hit by pitcher Mason Mostajo and lost 10-0.
The Spartans struck out six times and walked three times, showing their inability to put the ball in play against the Bruins. Mostajo was very efficient in the game as well, only throwing 66 pitches to get through fives innings of work. TJ wasn’t able to keep Creek in reach, as the Bruins went up 9-0 after two innings of play.
TJ now begins league play against the South Rebels on March 20, at South High School at 4 p.m.
Mar. 8 L vs. Golden 10-4
Mar. 10 W vs. Gateway 16-3
Mar. 13 W vs. Aurora Central 19-0
Mar. 17 L vs. Creek 10-0
Mar. 20 @ South @ 4 p.m.
Mar. 22 @ Ralston Valley @ 4 p.m.
Mar. 23 @ Denver West @ 4 p.m.
Mar. 30 @ Eaglecrest @ 4 p.m.
Apr. 4 vs. Lincoln @ 4 p.m.
Apr. 6 vs. Kennedy @ TBA
Apr. 9 @ Lakewood @ 4 p.m.
Apr.10 vs. Montbello @ 4 p.m.
Apr. 13 vs. Standley Lake @ 4 p.m.
Apr. 16 @ Denver North @ 4 p.m.
Apr. 20 vs. Denver East @ 4 p.m.
Apr. 24 @ Northglenn @ 4 p.m.
Apr. 27 @ George Washington @ 4 p.m.
May 5 @ Prairie View @ 11 a.m.
May 7 vs. Mountain View @ 4 p.m.
