by: Nathan Dollinger

North Springs High School’s baseball team played their first games of the 2022 season during the week of February 14. The Spartans’ Varsity Baseball team came into the season as the reigning Region 5AAAAA Champs with Spartans’ Head Coach, Matthew Gershon, who was Lassiter’s head coach until 2015. The Spartans Varsity Baseball team played their first game of the season on Tuesday, February 15 against Lassiter High School.

Going into their season opener, the Spartans had lost three straight games to the Lassiter Trojans. Unfortunately, the Trojans were victorious once again for the fourth straight time, winning by a score of 3-2. Even though the Spatans had taken their first loss of the season, there were some bright spots for the team. Daniel Jackson (Junior) , looked great in his first outing of the season, by pitching five innings, giving up three hits and one run. Also, Caden Rogers (Senior), Jake Streeter (Senior), and Eli Simon (Junior) each had one hit during their season opener. 

The Spartans’ Varsity team played their second game on Friday, February 18 against Walton High School. The Spartans defeated the Walton Raiders by a score of 4-0 to make them 1-1 to start the season, in addition to their first victory of the season. Seniors Dylan Reid and Jake Steeter threw a no-hitter to shut out Walton. Tyler Jackson (Senior) and Ryan Zaparaniuk (Sophomore) led the offense for the Spartans collecting two hits each. 

As for the Spartans’ Junior Varsity Team (JV), their opening day was on Monday, February 14 against North Atlanta High School. In their first game of the year, the Junior Varsity Spartans lost by a score of 15-1 against the North Atlanta Warriors. Even though it was a tough loss to start the season, there were some bright spots for the team. Andrew Mbow (Sophomore) led the Spartans’ JV team offense with one hit, going 1-2 on the day. 

Next, on Wednesday, February 16 the Junior Varsity Spartans played against Chamblee High School in their second game of the season. Hoping for their first win of the season, the Junior Varsity Spartans were defeated by the Chamblee Bulldogs 7-5. Sam Curtin(Sophomore) pitched an amazing game as he went 4 Innings, only allowing 1 hit and 1 run. Defensive struggles continued to be the issue for the Junior Varsity Spartans, but hoepfully they will pull through as the season unfolds.