That all changed in the consolation game, however, as Grundy Center exploded for eight runs against Baxter while stifling the Bolts for just two runs of their own to earn that first victory of 2018.

Spartans head coach Pat Brown, who also got his first win of his young coaching career, said he couldn’t be prouder of how his guys played on Saturday.

“It was a beautiful day, everybody talked about how hot it was but I reminded these kids ‘hey, in February this is where our journey began,’ and we got our first win, couldn’t be more excited for these kids,” Brown said.

To understand how Grundy Center (1-13) finally got over the winless hump, you need look no further than how Garret Weldon performed on the mound for his squad.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Weldon was on from his first pitch until his last, breezing through the Bolts (2-13) for 5 1/3 innings while allowing only four hits and one run and striking out eight batters.

After receiving a shower of very cold water from his teammates, Weldon said it was his off-speed pitches that got the job done against Baxter.

“I didn’t throw my fastball as well today but I felt my curveball was working well so I was able to throw that comfortably,” Weldon said, still dripping from his impromptu ice bath.

Brown said he couldn’t have picked anyone else to be on the mound for the team’s first win this year.

“Garret has kind of been our rock, he’s been our foundation on the mound,” Brown said. “Struggles really with pitches, he throws way too many pitches so the pitch count gets to him throughout the week, but I think it was very fitting for Garret to pick up that first win. He’s been working at this for a long, long time and it’s great.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

After Weldon was pulled in the sixth inning due to his pitch count, Cale Hendricks picked right up where the senior Spartan had left off, going the final 1 2/3 innings allowing no hits and no earned runs while striking out three.

Hendricks also had his curveball baffling the Bolts, and Brown said that was something they have all been working on for a while.

“Throughout the week I took them in the bullpen and said ‘hey guys, we have got to develop a curveball,'” Brown said. “They weren’t really confident with it, when you get it up and you are actually pitching for the win, and [Hendricks] stayed on top of the curveball and threw them in for a strike, it was great.”

Grundy Center found success at the plate as well, with Weldon once again getting the party started with a two-RBI double in the second inning that plated Adam Hoy and Travis Kuester for the first scores of the game.

Landon Graham also had a two-RBI single in the fourth inning that sent Zach Opheim and Sawyer Bowen home, while Mathew Sternhagen and Payton McMartin had back-to-back hits and RBIs in the sixth inning that essentially sealed the deal for the Spartans.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“What we’ve done really, really well is we’ve made adjustments in the batting cage, we’ve got our guys hitting the ball, we’ve got our guys playing a lot better defense, we just struggle with the pitch count and we struggle with pitching depth,” Brown said of how the team has come along. “We’ve yet to play a game where we haven’t had the other coach upset, we are right there and they know if they give us any ground we are going to take it.”

Even in the first game of the day against PCM, despite the 14-4 loss to the Mustangs, Grundy Center hit the ball very well, much to the displeasure of PCM head coach Jeff Lindsay.

Now picking up his first win as head coach, Brown said he sees the guys picking up what they’ve been trying to teach all year, and that is thanks in part to some other voices helping Brown along the way, like former Grundy Center girls golf state coach Rick Schupbach, who has a state record 14 state titles as a head coach.

“Coach Schupbach sat down with me when I needed him as a mentor and for his ultimate wisdom and advice,” Brown said. “He said ‘why are you doing this?’ and I told him that it’s about the kids and I truly believe that, it’s not about the wins and losses. These kids are doing things in three, four, five years down the road they will be employable because of it.”

Welden said getting this win will only lead to more success down the road this year.

“It was great, I feel like this will definitely give us some good momentum heading into the rest of the season and hopefully some of our underclassmen can learn from this and think they can do it too,” Welden said.

Up next the Spartans will look to make it two in a row when they host West Marshall on Monday for an NICL West Division matchup, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Rose Festival Tournament

At State Center

Saturday’s Games

First Round

West Marshall 15, Baxter 1

PCM 14, Grundy Center 4

Consolation Game

Grundy Center 8, Baxter 2

Championship Game

PCM 9, West Marshall 6

——

Consolation

Grundy Center 8, Baxter 1

BAXTER 000 000 1 — 1 4 5

GC 020 402 X — 8 7 5

Carter Nelson, Grants Borts and Travis Lindemoen; Garret Weldon, Cale Hendricks and Jensen Clapp. WP–Weldon (1-1). LP–Nelson (1-2). 2B–Baxter: Ian Thomson; GC: Weldon, Mathew Sternhagen. LOB–Baxter 8, GC 8.

Champshionship

PCM 9, West Marshall 6

PCM 003 031 2 — 9 9 4

WM 100 131 0 — 6 6 4

Dane Owens, Kolten Johnson, Derek Brown and Caleb Duinink; Parker Hulbert, Jake Tollefson and Josh Larson. WP–Owens (2-2). LP–Hulbert (2-2). 2B–PCM: Noah Henkenius, Olin Meinders, Duinink; WM: Cameron Bannister, Hulbert, Ryan Reyerson. LOB–PCM 8, WM 7.

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