Spartans narrowly miss district final

GRUNDY CENTER — A single bad inning kept the Grundy Center High School baseball team from playing in its first district final in several years.

Last Thursday Janesville scored six runs, three of which were unearned, as it rallied from a 6-1 deficit to edge the Spartans 7-6 in a Class 1A, District 5 semifinal at the George Wilhelm Sports Complex. 

The Spartans (7-17) reached the semifinal with a nail-biting 4-3 victory over Gladbrook-Reinbeck Tuesday.

In the semifinal the Spartans took advantage of Janesville mistakes to build their big lead. Jordan Clapp scored on an error after leading off the second inning with a double and Elliott Eggleston scored on a Jared Clapp single after drawing a walk. Two walks, a passed ball and two Wildcat errors led to two more Spartan runs in the third inning while Austin Burroughs and Ryon Appel drove home runs in the fourth.

For more of this story see the July 25 Grundy Register.