DUBUQUE — The 2023 varsity baseball season came to an end for the Spartans Monday, July 10 as they fell 8-1 to Wahlert Catholic in a 3A Substate Semifinal in the Golden Eagles’ nest. The loss came on the heels of a 2-0 First Round win over WaMaC West rival Clear Creek Amana (CCA) Friday, July 7 in Tiffin.
The Spartans threatened CCA’s Clippers in the top of the third inning when Tyson Wheeler and Garret Stebral got on base with singles but were left stranded. Brett White hammered a solo homerun in the fourth putting Solon on the scoreboard.
“I ran into one, finally,” said White. “He (Josh Loren) gave me a pitch and I took advantage of it. He pitched a really good game. I’m good friends with him and was really impressed with him tonight.”
The “Boats” answered in the bottom of the inning with a triple by Maclane Morgan. However, a timely double play by the Spartan defense dropped the anchor on CCA.
Tyler Bell scored the second run in the top of the seventh when he came home on a Stebral RBI single.
Stebral led Solon with three hits and one RBI while Nolan Seagren, White, and Dylan Gorham produced one hit apiece.
“2-0, that’s a little nerve-wracking,” said White. “But it was fun. It was a good game.”
Head Coach Keith McSweeney gave credit to junior pitcher Vince Steinbrech, who went the seven-inning distance giving up three hits, no runs, walking four, and striking out seven.
“Vince, the second half of this season, really kind-of came into his own,” said McSweeney. “Coach (Scott) Shulista and the work he did with him in the off-season and throughout the first half of the season really paid off. He became a horse tonight and we got on his back a little bit. We really fed off of him.”
McSweeney also credited the defensive effort. “We were opportunists defensively, we took advantage of some of their base running gaffes, and we kept momentum in our dugout. We were able to build on that.”
The Clippers and Spartans had split a doubleheader just the week before and McSweeney had praise for the boys in blue. “That’s a really hardnose team we just beat, they’re very well-coached, some really great athletes, a lot of respect for them. They played hard, but our goal all year is we want to peak on July 7, we want to play our best baseball on July 7 (start of Class 3A Substate games).”
Sparty’s Boys took on CCA without their number one hitter, senior Blake Timmons, who sustained an injury the week before but was anticipated to be back in action for the Wahlert game.
“It sucked,” White said of not having Timmons on the diamond. “When I saw him go down, I got pretty emotional, me and him are like best friends. It was tough, we played for him, it was all for Blake the whole game. I just wanted to give him one more chance to play.”
In his place was sophomore Nolan Seagren.
“Nolan has really grown as a baseball player this year, really taken a big step, really just become a ‘dirt bag’ and I say that with affection, that’s an affectionate term in baseball,” said the coach.
Solon finished the season at 22-20 overall and 14-6 in the WaMaC East while Wahlert improved to 28-13 and were 18-10 in the Mississippi Valley Conference’s Mississippi Division.
The Solon Spartans walk off the diamond victorious over Clear Creek Amana, Friday, July 7 after a 2-0 Class 3A Substate win. For more photos, turn to page 12A.