The Grundy Center baseball team is off to an undefeated start, entering the weekend 8-0 and 4-0 in the NICL-West.
Offensively, the Spartans have been sizzling, with four games of double digit run production. Head Coach Pat Brown Jr.
“We’re batting about .340 as a team,” Brown says. “And anytime you can bat over .300 is going to make a big difference in how many ball games you win. Still want to try to shoot higher toward .400. And a lot can happen, guys could get hot, guys can get cold. But the biggest thing is to maintain that composure, stay within yourself, get a job done. Don’t be too proud to bunt, have a sacrifice fly. Be aggressive on the bases. And that’s kind what we’re doing. And as long as we continue to do that consistently, I think we’ll be a pretty solid baseball team.”
Four players are battling over .400, including Ryder Slifer, Ryker Thoren, Judd Jirovsky and leader Brayden Davie at .467. Slifer has a team-high seven extra base hits, including five doubles and two home runs.
The pitching has helped back up the offense, with a staff of eight players and six who have started. Britt Meyer has joined the staff and has compiled a 0.81 ERA in 8.2 innings.
“Britt so far has kind of been that diamond in the rough. He’s taken advantage of kids’ missed opportunities, and have been his gained opportunities. So Britt’s doing really well. Ryker Thoren had a couple good outings when he was healthy. Ethan Meester and Hayden Geerdes, they’re going out there and doing what they’ve got to do with a defense behind them. And then we’ve always got Judd Jirovsky, he’s our closer type of guy that we try to utilize to finish games. But all in all, it’s all about throwing strikes. Base on balls kills you, and our kids are not doing that right now. And they’re just having confidence in their pitches and they’re having confidence in the defense behind them.”
They’ll return to action Monday by hosting Dike-New Hartford at 7:00.
