‘I just felt in a groove’: Sparrow commands zone, strikes out 14 in leading Eagles to victory

LIBERTY, Ill. — Luckily for Liberty senior right-handed pitcher Jack Sparrow, his bullpen session before Friday’s start against Winchester West Central was not a harbinger of things to come.

“My warmups weren’t very good,” Sparrow said. “With the wind, it was knocking me everywhere. (Liberty catcher Evan Sims) had to go run after one that got away in the bullpen, and I was like, ‘My bad.’”

Sparrow collected himself before taking the mound.

“I came back in here, sat myself down and cooled off a little bit,” Sparrow said. “I told Evan, ‘Hopefully it gets better from here.’”

It got much better. Sparrow allowed one run over five innings and struck out 14 batters while only walking one to help the Eagles beat the Cougars 12-4 at Liberty High School.

“Whenever I stepped foot on the mound, I just felt in a groove,” Sparrow said.

Eagles coach Travis Ruppel watched with delight as Sparrow shut down a Cougars lineup that scored 18 runs against Payson Seymour on Thursday.

“It was great to see him come out today and just attack guys,” Ruppel said. “To see him come out today and have 14 strikeouts against a team like that, it’s a great thing to see.”

Jack Sparrow worked around an error by shortstop Reed Sparrow in the top of the first inning by striking out the side, then Caden Meyer led off the top of the second with a triple to straightaway center field.

“I grooved him one probably where I shouldn’t have and he put a good swing on it,” Sparrow said of the pitch that led to that triple. “I knew that was a mistake on my part.”

Sparrow made sure to not make the same mistake.

“After that, I knew what I did wrong,” Sparrow said. “I went back, hammered the strike zone and they really couldn’t touch it.”

Sparrow struck out the next three batters on 11 pitches. It took him just 10 pitches to fan the side in the third, then the Eagles scored five runs with two outs in the bottom of the third to give Sparrow a 5-0 cushion.

The Cougars scored their first run on a wild pitch with one out in the fourth, then after a Tucker Arnold single put runners on first and second with one out, Sparrow struck out Anthony Hance on three pitches and Sims threw out Meyer stealing third to end the inning.

Sparrow again struck out all three batters he faced in the fifth, putting him at 79 pitches.

“Coach asked me, ‘Do you want to stay in?’ I was like, ‘Yeah,’ but it probably wouldn’t be good for my arm this early in the season,” Sparrow said.

Jack Sparrow gave way to Reed Sparrow, who gave up three runs in the sixth but rebounded to set down the Cougars in order in the seventh after the Eagles added six insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth.

“I let my brother do his thing,” Jack Sparrow said. “It got off to a rough start, but I think everyone on the field knew that he would get it under control.”

The Eagles took advantage of five Cougars errors to score eight unearned runs. Liberty had nine hits, only struck out five times and used a sound approach to spray the ball around the field, which was especially evident in the third when six straight batters reached base with two outs.

“We got down to two outs, and guys just kept battling at the plate and found a way to hit the ball the other way,” Ruppel said. “We preach that a lot right now  — just staying on the ball, trying to hit it the gaps. That’s what we really focus on when we’re taking batting practice and things like that, and it’s starting to show.”

Eagles first baseman Gavin Edgar used that approach to hit a two-run triple to give the Eagles their 5-0 lead in the third. He also hit a sharp single to center field in the fifth and singled again in the sixth to finish 3 for 4 with three RBIs.

“I just took a simple approach — try and hit the ball to the right side and drive in the runs,” Edgar said. “Coach put the hit-and-run on my last two at-bats, and I knew I had to put the ball in play, so that’s all I was trying to do.”

In addition to his dominance on the mound, Jack Sparrow went 2 for 3 at the plate and drove in the Eagles’ first two runs of the game with a single up the middle in the third.

“Today just felt good overall,” Sparrow said. “I’ve been putting in a lot of work on my swing, and everyone else has, too. It showed today. I’m proud of the way we hit.

“Coach has reiterated multiple times that we just have to stay within ourselves and put it to the right center gap. I think that was everybody’s approach going to the plate, and that really helped us today.”

Liberty (2-0) will take on West Central Conference rival Payson Seymour on Monday in Payson.