Spain Park’s pair of late rallies seal area series sweep with Chelsea in top-10 battle

Published 8:33 pm Monday, March 24, 2025

By Andrew Simonson

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Spain Park Jaguars had to rely on some late-inning heroics to get it done, but they secured a pair of victories over the Chelsea Hornets to sweep the opening series of area play.

In a battle of top 10 teams in the initial baseball media rankings, Spain Park defeated Chelsea 4-3 on Tuesday, March 18 at Spain Park High School ahead of an 8-3 win on Friday, March 21 at the Chelsea Sports Complex.

In the first game of the series, the Hornets held a 3-1 lead entering the sixth but fell thanks to a three-run rally from the Jags in the bottom of the sixth.

Chelsea went ahead in the early moments of the game after Paxton Stallings capitalized off a one-out walk from Chase Lackey to hit an RBI double for the 1-0 lead.

Spain Park had to battle through a dominant start from Hornets starter Aiden Hughes, who finished with 11 strikeouts in five innings.

The Jags got an opening to strike in the bottom of the third after Hughes gave up two of his three walks on the afternoon in successive at-bats to start the inning. Joe Cross followed that up with a bunt single to load up the bases.

While the next batter struck out, a hit batsman allowed Spain Park to tie up the game at 1-1 before Hughes settled in for the final two strikeouts of the inning.

Chelsea broke the deadlock early in the top of the fifth. Hughes doubled right after a pitching change to bring home the lead-off walk. After a sacrifice bunt put Hughes on third, a sacrifice fly from Caden Mims completed the small-ball sequence and increased the lead to 3-1.

While the Jags couldn’t respond in the fifth, a hit batsman to start the bottom of the sixth chased Hughes. From there, a Connor Greb single followed by a walk loaded up the bases and forced another pitching change.

The Hornets recovered with a strikeout, but Spain Park tied up the game off a passed ball. The Jags dropped into a two-out hole shortly after, but Brodie Bragg came up with the go-ahead RBI single just two pitches later to set up the hosts for the 4-3 victory.

Spain Park took on John Carroll Catholic the night after for a wild 14-11 win to keep the win streak alive in between area contests. The Jags emerged from a high-scoring back-and-forth to score the final six runs unanswered and take the win.

Eli Smallwood, Ryne Paquette and Evan Taylor each finished with two RBI in the victory, but Spain Park burnt through eight pitchers in the game in an attempt to preserve arms for the area matchup on Friday.

In the second game of the series, Chelsea got in business early after loading up the bases on the first three batters of the bottom of the first. A fielder’s choice play allowed Aiden Craven to open up the scoring ahead of a two-run double from Mack Breazeale for the 3-0 lead.

The Jags responded in the top of the third after a Jack Sellers lead-off single, a one-out walk and a sacrifice bunt set up Taylor to score both runners with an RBI single.

That cut the deficit to 3-2 at the end of the third, and Spain Park kept rallying from there. The Jags plated the tying run after Slate Bounds capitalized off a Greb lead-off single with an RBI triple, tying the game up at 3-3 in the top of the fourth.

However, the Hornets buckled down and didn’t allow another run through the end of the seventh, forcing extra innings.

Then, in the top of the eighth, three of the first four Spain Park batters reached off two walks and a Bounds single to load up the bases with one out.

Sellers then came up with the go-ahead run off a two-run single that left the Jags up 5-3 with two outs. While that could have ended the game by itself, Bragg quickly followed that up with an RBI double headed of a Rhys Jones two-run home run to extend the lead to 8-3.

Chelsea got a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the inning to try and get a rally going, but Logan Bradford slammed the door shut with a strikeout to clinch the win and the series.

Sellers led the offense with a 3-for-4 day with two RBI and two runs. Bounds went 2-for-3 with a walk, run and an RBI, and Taylor and Jones each finished with two RBI apiece.

Charles Kramer took the win with 11 strikeouts in seven innings, surrendering three runs off seven hits and two walks while keeping the Hornets scoreless from the second to seventh inning before he was pulled.

Hughes and Breazeale each went 3-for-4 as Breazeale added two RBI and Hughes had a run. Mims also went 2-for-4 in defeat.

Despite the loss, Stallings finished with six strikeouts in relief of Jackson Price, who had five strikeouts across four innings to begin the game.

Spain Park improved to 12-7 overall and 2-0 in area play with the wins and will start Buccaneer Classic play on Wednesday, March 26 at the Hoover Met Classic against Cullman at 4:30 p.m. and Tennessee’s Houston at 7 p.m.

Chelsea dropped to 12-9 overall and 0-2 in area play. The Hornets will play in the Gulf Coast Classic over spring break and face Normal West on Monday, March 24 at 4:30 p.m. ahead of a 7 p.m. game against West Blocton to kick off the four-game tournament.

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