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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

HOOVER – During a week off from school, the Spain Park Jaguars did not rest as they took the field during their spring break at the Buc Classic in Hoover, playing a series of six games from March 26-29.

The Jags found their offensive stroke at the plate and used it to defeat the Oak Lawn Spartans and Utica Redskins, but could not pull out their games against Cullman, Houston, Leeds and Clarksville Academy.

Spain Park was forced to muster up a late rally in the final inning of its first contest against the Cullman Bearcats, but ultimately ran out of luck as it fell 6-3 on Wednesday, March 26.

Two walks and a single loaded up the bases with one out in the top of the seventh. Joseph Cross singled on a line drive into right field to score the team’s first two runs of the game before giving way to Eli Smallwood, who hit a sacrifice fly to drive in another run.

Unfortunately for the Jags, a strikeout from Connor Greb ended the game, putting them at 0-1 for the week.

Spain Park came back later for its second game of the day, but was overwhelmed by the Houston Mustangs out of Germantown, Tennessee, falling 7-2.

The Mustangs took control of the game early, scoring all seven of their runs in the first two innings. The Jags responded later in the fourth with each of their two runs, but could not find much more of a fight as the rest of the game proved to be scoreless and they dropped to 0-2.

The offense headed in the right direction on day two of the action as Spain Park earned its first win of the week against Oak Lawn 10-8.

Rhys Jones led the game off in the top of the first inning with a walk, and after two outs to follow, Greb reached on an error from a ground ball, scoring Jones to make it a 1-0 game.

Oak Lawn responded in a big way and quickly. After a walk and a double put runners on second and third in the bottom half of the inning, a fly ball to the shortstop resulted in an error, tying the game up. A couple of batters later, the Spartans hit a two-run single to go up 3-1 just like that.

In the top of the second, the Jags took charge. Nash Davis led things off with a solo home run. A few batters later, after a walk and a hit batsman, a single from Cross and Evan Taylor drove a combined three runs across to make it a 5-3 game before Andrew Thornton scored on a catching error after coming in to pinch run, extending things to 6-3.

Spain Park continued momentum into the top of the third when a wild pitch allowed Slade Bounds to score from third to make the score 7-3.

The action stayed quiet after that until the top of the fifth as following a walk from Greb, Davis laced an RBI double into right field. A couple of batters later, Jack Sellers lined out to right field but drove in one more run to put things at 9-3.

Oak Lawn scored one more run in the bottom of the fifth to cut it to 9-4, but a wild pitch allowed Thornton to get that run back in the top of the sixth to put the score at 10-4.

The Spartans made a threat to come back in the final two of their offensive frames, scoring four runs to put the score at 10-8, but the game ultimately ended and the Jags escaped with a win.

However, the luck did not hold up for long, as Spain Park dropped its next game to the Leeds Greenwave 8-6, one that saw Leeds storm back from six runs down to tie things up in the fourth and ultimately win in the bottom of the sixth.

The Jags got their momentum back in game five on Friday, March 28, defeating the Utica Redskins of Ohio 9-3 in dominant fashion.

Spain Park got it going in the bottom of the first, as Davis, Jack Lutenbacher, Brodie Bragg and Sellers each earned consecutive RBI to quickly put the score at 4-0.

The scoring continued in the bottom of the third, as after a double from Greb, Davis drove him in on a double to right field. Lutenbacher then scored Davis on a ground out to make it a 6-0 game.

Utica got one run back in the top of the fourth, but the Jags got that run back in the bottom half. Greb notched an RBI double to center field before Davis hit a sacrifice fly to score in another run, extending things to 8-1.

Later on in the bottom of the fifth, Sellers hit a sacrifice fly to right field, making it a 9-1 game. The Redskins scored two runs in the top of the seventh, but Spain Park ended it quickly after with a 9-3 win.

The final game proved to be a tough one on Saturday, March 29, as the Jags fell 5-4 to the Clarksville Academy Cougars out of Tennessee, leaving the tying run on third in bottom of the seventh.

Following the series in Hoover, Spain Park sits at 14-11 overall and looks to improve on its 2-0 area record when it takes on the Pelham Panthers on Tuesday, April 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Spain Park High School.