They were down but they weren’t out. VTSU Castleton ,after a tough 4-1 loss in gane one of a double header against RPI, came back in game 2twofrom a 3-9 deficit to win the game 15-9.

The Engineers took the lead in the 4th inning with two home runs to make the game 2-0, but the Spartans were ready to clap back at the top of the 5th inning.

The Spartans had two outs with Samuel Steinman stepping to the plate and Justin Strozyk on base. Steinman hit an absolute bomb of a home run to tie the game up, but RPI quickly recovered, tacking on three more runs to make the game 5-2.

Then before you knew it the Spartans were down 9-3 after the Engineers hit a grand slam at the bottom of the 7th but at the top of the 8th inning the Spartans come out guns blazing bringing in six  runs to tie up the game 9-9

It all started with Strozyk leading the inning with a walk, followed by Brendan Shaderhitting a single and Turner Clews smoking a double to bring the boys home giving the Spartans serious momentum and chipping away at the lead making it 5-9.

Later, in the same inning with bases loaded All-conference star player Jackson Cardozo gets intentionally walked as the Engineers did not want to see Dozo on the plate with bases filled with Jack Boyle following up with another walk to make the score 7-9.

Then at the 10th pitch at bat Dylan Helder also got walked scoring another run really hyping up the bench in the process.

Shader then got hit for a single securing a home run for the Spartans tying the game 9-9 before Steinman got struck out to end the drive. 

Mike Malloy came in at pitcher and had a great 9th inning pitching as he shut them down to force a 10th inning.

But this is where the Spartans turned up the heat cashing in on another 6 runs to make the score 15-9 and carrying this momentum into the bottom half of the inning shutting them out to win the game.

“It was a good team win,” Steinman shared “It was nice to see some guys who don’t normally play get some opportunities.” as these guys who don’t get much opportunity came in and were all able to get them a piece of the cake.

It was rough start to the season playing a lot of tough southern teams but for the Spartans

“It was truly a team win … with guys coming off the bench and bullpen, and guys making plays and getting timely hits.” said Malloy.

This win was a serious confidence booster and is a great momentum builder for the conference games to come in the future.

This momentum continued for the Spartans as they came through with a tough 5-4 win against Emerson only a couple days later.

“I also hope the snow keeps out because we definitely want to throw a few home games into the schedule.” said Boyle

With chemistry building, confidence building, and snow hopefully staying out of the picture, the Spartans are heating up at just the right time. The rest of the conference had better have their air conditioners on high because VTSU Castleton is coming with the heat.