The Lions’ varsity baseball team secured an 8-3 win over the Dallas Homeschool Lions, marking a special occasion as the program celebrated Senior Night. Before the game, the team held a special ceremony to honor all seniors who had contributed to the program, including announcer David McAtee, scoreboard operator Pranav Danda, and student-manager Matthew DeSilva for their work to make home games a special atmosphere. The ballclub then invited the seven senior players, along with their families and Lower School buddies, to take photos and be honored. This year’s seniors are Alex Dahlander, Hudson Da Rosa, Jake DeBoever, Spenser New, Jackson Ostella, Peter Rubi and Whit Turner, with Da Rosa and DeBoever serving as team captains.
With good vibes all around, the Lions got out to a fast start in the first few innings. Rubi, making his first pitching appearance of the season, threw a 1-2-3-inning with two strikeouts to start the game. The offense immediately began rolling, as the first four Lions’ batters reached base. Pressure mounted as the Lions stole bases and took advantage of opponents’ errors, leading to five runs in the first inning. As part of this rally, pitcher-only Spenser New made his first and likely only varsity plate appearance, which ended in a hit-by-pitch. Da Rosa scored in the second on a wild pitch, then in the fourth DeBoever reached home after an errant throw to third allowed him to score on a steal. Rubi was dominant on the mound, only allowing two baserunners in his first five innings of work, both of which were erased on double plays. With two outs in the fifth, Rubi drove in Dahlander on a single to extend the lead to eight. Finally, the opposing Lions would score on a double in the sixth and tack on two more in the seventh, causing Rubi to leave the mound to a standing ovation after 6 ⅔ innings pitched. Dahlander would finish the job, striking out his only batter to secure the win.
The seven seniors collected eight of the Lions’ nine hits on the day, with Dahlander leading the way with three. DeBoever finished with a double and two stolen bases, and Da Rosa tripled and stole a bag, while Ostella reached base three times as the Lions had baserunners in five of six innings. Rubi struck out four and issued only one walk over 6 ⅔ innings pitched. With the win, the team improved to 5-13 on the season with four games left before the SPC tournament. The final home game of the year will be a conference game against Greenhill on April 21.
