The Spartan Baseball team ends its season in a final playoff game against Pueblo West.
Photo by Mia Nogueira
After a successful season of big wins, broken records, and unfaltering supremacy within their division, the Spartans finally met their match in Pueblo West on Monday, May 16th with a season ending losing score of 8-7.
The Spartans came into the 4A State playoffs with the overall #4 seed and first played the 29th seeded Longmont Trojans to elevate them into their second round game against Pueblo West. In this game, the Spartans continued to have difficulty finding the gaps and getting hits as has been only a recent trend for the team. The Spartans had only three hits in this game, notably a triple by Senior Austin Hearne who was brought home with a hit by Evan Walter.
In the end, which has been the case for many games for the Spartans this year, it was Senior Ace Kyle Freeland’s unassailable pitching that saved the day for the Spartans. Freeland threw a nearly perfect seven innings, allowing only four hits, one run, and adding 15 additional strikeouts to his already phenomenal total for the season. At the end of the 9th inning, the Spartans pulled out the “W” with a final winning score of 2-1.
Next, the Spartans faced their unforeseen demise in their final game against the Pueblo West Cyclones. In this game, the team went to Senior Joe Sedig on the mound in hopes of establishing a two-pronged pitching attack of Sedig and Freeland in this year’s playoffs. The team started off the game on fire and had a fantastic first inning, driving in four runs and holding the Cyclones to only two of their own. However, the Spartans fell apart in the third inning and, as Senior Grant Maloney puts it, “[We] had one of our worst innings of the season at the worst time,” giving up four runs and allowing Pueblo West back into the game.
The Spartans’ spiraling fall into a loss was mostly due to self-inflicted wounds of errors in the infield, and the inability to put a cap on the rising momentum by the Cyclones. In the end, the Spartans’ quick lead wasn’t enough to secure the victory, and the game, and season, ended in a close final losing score of 8-7.
The end of the 2011 season comes hand-in-hand with the end of the Senior class of 2011’s time as members of the team. The Seniors look back on the season and the past four years on the team with nostalgia and with great memories of being a Spartan Baseball player.
“Playing on the team this year was the highlight of my Senior year. I will never forget this season and all of my teammates I got to play with. I’m really going to miss all of this,” said Senior Miles Mercer.
Senior Grant Maloney also said, “It was a fun year and we did have a good run throughout the season. I am going to miss all of my teammates and coaches and hope future teams will be able to continue the success of the program.”
Even though the team will miss this class of seniors and the success and standard of excellence they brought to the squad, they have high hopes for the future with many returning players. Returning starters for next year in Evan Walter and Brandon Gonzales will be an integral part of the team’s success and leadership, and returning young players like Freshman Samuel Reed and Cooper Bowermaster, and Sophomores Zach Robinson and Tyler Moehlman look to bring a bright future for the Spartan Baseball program.
