Senior Night festivities started early after the Spartans scored a shutout win against the visitors from Chief Sealth, 11-0, in just five innings Monday, April 23.
The Bainbridge High varsity baseball team thus upped their overall season record to 8-7 (7-4 in conference), and definitively began to distance themselves from a recent dispiriting loss to Eastside Catholic.
The island squad is ranked sixth in the Metro standings.
Seniors Kellen French, Mitchell Kurtz, Ian Matthews, co-captains Garrett Aichele and Brooks Lierle, Tadashi Grindeland, Liam Kobs, Theo Colgan and Ethan Schulte were recognized.
Spartan senior pitcher James McMurray, however, nabbed some special nods from team officials and emerged as the hero of the day.
“This young man sets the tone for it every time he hits the mound,” said Spartan Co-Head Coach Bill Ackerley. “The guys are excited, they’re confident whenever he’s up there. He started it. He set the tone and the guys kept it going and we had a good result.”
By his own count, the strong-armed Spartan threw 46 pitches in the game’s brisk five innings.
“My fastball was pretty good today,” McMurray said. “You just got to stay calm up there, stay focused. Just throw strikes, and let your defense do the work.”
Having McMurray on the mound made all the difference for the Spartans Monday, Ackerley said, in the way that only a good pitcher having a good day can.
“When you’ve got a guy up there that’s sitting hitters down in a hurry … the defense stays on their toes and when the hitters are coming up, they’re excited,” he said. “It’s very important to set it early and as I said, they’re getting used to it with [McMurray], and there’s a lot of confidence when he’s out there.”
The senior pitcher said he approached the last home game as he did any other, with the same strategy in mind.
“I just let my defense do the work and be efficient,” he said. “I think [the mood] was good today. We came off a loss to Eastside and that was kind of demoralizing, so I think we came out today and we really played our hearts out on Senior Night. And the mood was great in the dugout and on the field, and we all just had a lot of fun.”
Monday’s game came together quickly for the Spartans. They jumped ahead right away — leading 2-0 by the end of the first inning — and led throughout.
Now, with only three games left on the regular season schedule, the coach said the team was bringing it all together at the right time.
“These guys are trying to hit their stride and the things we’re looking for — the energy and the enthusiasm and the confidence — a game like this gives you that,” Ackerley said.
“Sometimes players try to be more than they are and they don’t need to do that to have success. I think that the guys were good about doing that today; relying on your strength as opposed to trying to do something that you’re not really built to do yet, and you don’t need to. Go with what you’re good at, not with what you think people need to see.”
The BHS squad moved on to play Nathan Hale on the road the very next day, and O’Dea Wednesday, before capping the calendar with a rescheduled matchup against Bishop Blanchet on Thursday, April 26.
