This year’s final home varsity baseball game got started with a bang.
Two of them, actually.
Right off the bat, the Spartans claimed the lead with two consecutive home runs during their first at bat and announced — in no uncertain terms -—whose field it was.
They would continue to lead throughout the Senior Day game Wednesday, ultimately scoring a 15-8 victory over the visitors from Roosevelt High.
The win left the Spartans in the top-ranked spot in the Metro’s Mountain Division with an overall regular season record of 17-2 (7-1 in league play).
Garfield is the number-two team with a league record of 5-1.
The BHS squad will face off against the winner of Wednesday’s Bishop Blanchet/Nathan Hale game next Saturday in the first game of the postseason.
Spartan Head Coach Simon Pollack said after the three-hour long game that, while it was no time to start resting on their laurels, the team should take a moment to be proud of their accomplishments this season, especially the seniors.
“Frankly, it’s the mark of a good team that they kept the bats rolling, which was key,” Pollack said. “Certainly Roosevelt made their errors — and we made our errors — but that’s the thing about a good team. You know you’re a good team when you can play through the errors that you make.”
Pollack said that the excitement surrounding the final home game and of playing in front of such a large crowd may have gotten to the Spartans momentarily, at times, and caused some jitter-induced mistakes.
Water under the bridge, he added.
“Ultimately, last game of the season, we make some errors and come out on top? I couldn’t be happier or more proud of these guys,” Pollack said.
With the lengthy break between games, the team intended to drill heavily and stay focused, he added, saying that though they did not yet know who their first postseason opponent would be that it really didn’t matter.
“We didn’t lose in April; we’ve won our last 15 games or something like that, and you don’t win all those games without being a little lucky sometimes,” he said. “But we will run into some tight defensive ball clubs.”
“We can certainly play with anybody, but the top echelon of the Metro League is elite.”
That being said, Pollack admitted, it would be a mistake for the other teams to not be feeling nervous about playing Bainbridge as well.
“I would say we’re in the same boat,” he laughed. “You got to be looking at us and the number of runs we scored and the way that we lace it up and the guys that we bring to pitch and you’ve got to certainly put us in the mix for the Metro champs.”
