(Griswold, IA) – With it being just the second baseball game of the season for both Exira-EHK and Griswold, they surely delivered one of the best early-season competitions. The Spartans were able to capture a 7-5 win on the night over the Tigers to bring Exira-EHK to a 2-0 record and Griswold to a 1-1 overall record on the season. Exira-EHK Head Coach Randy Kelly was more than happy to see his boys capture another win to get to a 2-0 spot.
Griswold was the first team to be able to capitalize in the ballgame, adding two runs in the bottom of the third inning to take the first lead of the ballgame with a single by Kolbe Klindt to score Cody Dorscher from second. Exira-EHK came back right at the top of the fourth to tie things up with Jameson Kilworth earning the first hit of the ballgame. Chase Schwab was able to take a walk and Jaiden Pettipier knocked in Kilworth for the first run of the fourth inning. Just right after that, Nelson was able to reach first and advance to second on a wild throw to tie things up a 2-2.
The inning that really sparked for the Spartans was in the fifth, where Austin Young was able to reach first after a walk. Kilworth earned another key hit, and the Spartans had Schwab walk and Hansen was hit by a pitch to put the bases loaded with no outs. It came to Jaiden Pettipier who hit a key single to score a couple of runs that featured the key hit in the inning. Griswold was able to answer back in the bottom of the fifth with two added runs with key hits by Nollan Smith and Zane Johnson to be able to bring it to a 7-4 Spartan lead.
Griswold had just one more chance to put some runs on the board in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn’t rally as they added one run by the heads-up baserunning of Zane Johnson to fall in the game 7-5.
Exira-EHK’s Jameson Kilworth was the player of the game while going 2-4 at the plate and was a key pitcher, allowing just four hits and struck out 11 batters on the night.
Another Spartan who had a great night on the diamond was Austin Rasmussen with two hits in the ballgame and played a great defensive game in center field.
The Spartans are going to take a bit of a break here after this game with some rest throughout the weekend to prepare for their first conference game against Boyer Valley that takes place next Wednesday.
Griswold will jump right back into action as they look to capture a win in conference action on Friday against Stanton. Both Exira-EHK and Griswold will definitely be two teams to watch throughout the early portion of the season.
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