Michael LaBeau pitches during a game. Photo by Castleton Sports

The Castleton Spartans baseball team put on stunning power performance Saturday, crushing six home runs in a 15-0 victory against in-state rival Norwich.

            The bats came to life as the Spartans scored in the each of the last five innings, following a scoreless first.

            “The long ball was not part of the game plan going in, but it was nice to see some of the guys break out and show the power,” said senior third baseman Zach Bahan, who crushed two homers himself.

            As for the Norwich Cadets, their best opportunity came in the second inning as they were able to get the bases loaded but failed to drive a runner home as sophomore pitcher Charles Stapleford was able to work out of the jam.

            Stapleford pitched six shutout innings, only surrendering two hits, two walks and he recorded five strikeouts.

            “It was a pretty good atmosphere for the home opener, great weather and a lot of fans,” said Stapleford. “It took a little bit for me to settle in, but once our hitters got a few runs on the board it was a little easier to go right after the hitters. The shutout came easy with the defense making plays and Aaron Smith coming in for the 7th and shutting them right down.”

            The Spartans offensive clinic was a result of not only home runs but also fundamental baseball and solid base hits from a full contributing lineup.

            After recording three runs in the bottom of the second inning, the Spartans started to run away with the lead in the bottom of the third inning. In a home run frenzy, the Spartans hit back to back to back shots by Jonathan Lindau, Davis Mikell and Zach Bahan, scoring four runs on five hits, pushing their lead to 7-0 going into the fourth inning.

            “Despite the shutout, hitting was key. It’s hard to lose a game when you can hit the ball out of the park and put 15 runs on the board the way we did,” said junior, second baseman Ryan Wadsworth.

            The Spartans finished the game with an impressive 15 runs on 15 hits and only one error in the game.

            For Castleton, any game against rival Norwich always seems to be a must win for not only for the team, but for school and state bragging rights.

            “It was nice to beat up on our rival Norwich a little bit. Most of our sports have a long rivalry with them, so it felt really good to get the win.”

            The Spartans hope to continue their impressive hitting and their stellar pitching as the move into the second half of the season. They currently sit at 11-5 on the season and 2-2 in the NAC conference.