Spartan baseball walks it off on Senior Night (PHOTOS)

GRUNDY CENTER – Grundy Center baseball's defense made enough plays to fight back an AGWSR rally for an eight-inning victory, 4-3, at the George Wilhelm Sports Complex on Wednesday night.
 
In the eighth inning, Jensen Clapp's hustle in right field snagged a shallow fly ball that prevented AGWSR from breaking the tie with runners on the corners. That led to the bottom half of the frame, where Travis Kuester took a leadoff walk, moved to second on a ball put into play by Marshall Day and Brayden Sawyer delivered the game-winner on a base hit scoring Kuester from second.
 
Kuester was also the game's starting pitcher, throwing seven innings with three earned runs on three hits, three walks and eight strikeouts. Dayne Zinkula ended up getting the win with his one inning of relief in the eighth.
 
"I had all the confidence in my defense," Kuester said, "... our bats are going well and we're all being postive with each other."
 
With Wednesday's Senior Night festivities, the eighth inning was a nice contrast as seniors Kuester and Day set the table for freshman Brayden Sawyer to send the winning hit. Seniors recognized before the game were Kuester, Day, Landon Graham, Brady Jacobsen, Tanner Appel, Trevor Winger, Austin Knaack and Andy Cox.
 
"That was really cool," Kuester said. "Brayden's been a spark for us helping us to get these wins this season. He's been pitching so well for us and tonight he was in the right place at the right time."
 
After three wins in the last two seasons combined, the Spartans moved to 10-9 overall ahead of Friday's scheduled NICL West finale at BCLUW.
 
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