Grundy Center baseball endured a marathon of a first week to the regular season, winning four games in as many days to get out to a quick 4-0 start.

The Spartans started it off last Tuesday by toppling a state-rated Sumner-Fredericksburg/Tripoli team, 6-2, at the George Wilhelm Sports Complex in Grundy Center, then hit the road for wins against Oelwein (6-3), Gladbrook-Reinbeck (3-1) and Marshalltown (17-1).

“It’s been a long, long week,” Grundy Center head coach Pat Brown II said. “I couldn’t tell you the last time we started 4-0, and now granted, the first four games don’t mean anything, it’s those last four. … But these kids have been grinding in track, tennis, golf, all that stuff.”

The Spartans finished off the week in six innings in Marshalltown, using a big eight-run inning to put away the Bobcats.

Judd Jirovsky was 4-for-5 with two triples and three runs batted in, Ethan Meester 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI, Brayden Davie 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI, and Ryder Slifer smashed a two-run home run over the left-field fence as part of three RBI for the Spartans.

It was Slifer’s second career home run after hitting one as a sophomore last year. He finished that season with a .121 batting average and only four hits in 33 at-bats.

“The conversation I had with coach [Jason] Jirovsky today was that we’ve got to quit trying to hit home runs, and he said, ‘Well, I don’t think anyone’s trying to hit home runs,” Brown II said. “But I said that I know one guy that’s still trying to hit home runs, and then when he wasn’t actually trying, he crushed it.”

Slifer’s started the summer at a .417 clip and has already surpassed his total hits from last season.

“I had another good hit too, so that feels good because I feel like I’ve been popping out a lot this year,” Slifer said. “I’m just trying to tell myself to hit line drives.”

Ryker Thoren (.545) and Brayden Davie (.467) also ended the week with strong statlines, two of several on the team that are jumping in feet first from spring sports. Judd Jirovsky left Gates Park Golf Course in Waterloo after the final round of the 2A state golf tournament to make it to Oelwein in time for Wednesday’s game, throwing two and one-third scoreless innings with five strikeouts in the win over the Huskies.

“It’s been a great track season for the boys, also coming off state golf, huge success in basketball and football, we’re just gonna keep it rolling,” Slifer said. “We’ve been together in all these sports, there’s a lot of chemistry, and we’ve just been putting in the work in the offseason, coming in on Sundays when no one else wants to practice, and putting that work in.”

The Spartans used six pitchers last week; Ryker Thoren and Britt Meyer accounted for six innings each, Davie threw for 5 2/3, Ethan Meester 4 2/3 and two innings each from Jirovsky and Hayden Geerdes.

“We’ve got some guys that are a little sore, but it’s nice going into this season expecting a top two or three, and then all of a sudden a four or five jumps in there, and we’ve got guys that are going to be able to do it,” Brown II said. “We might not have great numbers, but we’ve got good athletes that can play a lot of positions, do a lot of different things.”

Grundy Center hosts South Hardin for a doubleheader on Tuesday, heads to Jesup on Wednesday, and wraps up the week back home against East Marshall on Thursday.

“We’re looking forward to a weekend off, maybe a little light practice on Monday to actually get a practice in, go over some things, and then just crank it right back up again,” Brown II said.

SOFTBALL SPLITS OPENING WEEK: The Spartan softball team bounced back from an opening loss to Sumner-Fredericksburg/Tripoli last Tuesday with a 10-0 win at Oelwein 24 hours later.

S-F/T, a state qualifier last season, held Grundy Center to three hits in a 5-0 loss for the Spartans. Eighth grader Macey Kiewiet was 2-for-3 to lead the Spartans.

Maddy Hendershot struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings pitched and the teams were scoreless through four before S-F/T broke through with three runs in the fifth inning.

The Spartans used a couple big innings to take down Oelwein, with four tallies in the fourth and five in the sixth inning to end the game after just six innings.

Kiewiet went the distance with six strikeouts and two walks, allowing no earned runs on two hits. Kiewiet, Evelyn Geerdes and Kyndra Dieken all had two hits each, with Geerdes and Hendershot accounting for two runs batted in a piece and Dieken, Kiewiet and Lauren Zajac knocking in one run each.

Grundy Center knocked around Oelwein for eight hits and capitalized on three walks and four runners reaching by error to swarm the Huskies.

The Spartans host South Hardin for two on Tuesday, then play back-to-back ranked teams in 2A No. 12 Jesup on Wednesday and at home against 2A No. 5 East Marshall on Thursday. Grundy Center will close the week at a Hudson tournament on Saturday.