A slow start didn’t deter Grundy Center baseball, pounding out a 15-4 win over Hudson at the George Wilhelm Sports Complex in Grundy Center on Tuesday.

The Spartans, ranked No. 8 in Class 2A by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association, improved to 17-2 overall. Hudson fell to 0-18.

The Pirates led 4-0 after the top of the first, a shaky start for the Spartan defense. The offense helped straighten things out, jumping ahead with four runs in the second inning and then adding five runs in both the third and fourth innings to bring the game to an early end.

“Kind of an emotional night with it being senior night, so you give up those four runs right away and it’d be easy to panic, or press,” Grundy Center assistant coach Jason Jirovsky said. “These guys trust each other, they continue to talk to each other really positively, and so I never really had a doubt, it was only a matter of time before we’d find our stride and be OK.”

Pete Lebo and Judd Jirovsky finished with three hits each; Jirovsky and Ryker Thoren knocked in three runs each and Lebo and Brody Zinkula added two RBI a piece. Ethan Meester, who struggled on the mound to start Tuesday’s game, contributed at the plate instead, scoring every time he came up to bat on Tuesday to join Brayden Davie with three runs scored a piece.

“We all have to face adversity at some point in the season,” Zinkula said. “It was a big night for [Meester], he had a couple great plays at shortstop and had some good at-bats and it was good to see a sophomore bounce back like that.”

Hayden Geerdes stepped in for Meester on the mound and pitched 4 2/3 innings of shutout baseball with four hits, one walk and three strikeouts.

“We throw strikes, we let them put it in play, and we’ve got great defense behind our pitchers, that’s what we do,” Jason Jirovsky said. “Then we just got hot at the plate and things rolled from there.”

The Spartans squared away a fifth-consecutive NICL West baseball title on Monday with two wins at AGWSR, including three innings from winning pitcher Ryker Thoren in Game 2.

“I’ve really got my confidence back with my pitching, especially my curveball and locating my fastball,” Thoren said. “I had a tough night against AG, went 0-for-whatever, but jumped back on it tonight and we all helped each other out with our hitting today.”

The Spartans honored seniors Zinkula, Thoren and Dayton Myers on Tuesday.

“It’s great being part of this team,” Myers said. “We’re positive, encouraging each other, even when we’re making mistakes like we made tonight in that first inning, everyone’s positive and bringing each other up.”

Jason Jirovsky added: “I’ve got nothing but respect for those three. … I’ve been coaching Ryker and Brody since they were third or fourth graders, we’ve been together out here for a long, long time. Dayton’s come along and has had his opportunities these last two years, so credit to him because not a lot of guys would stick this out.

“I think real tough players play in the summer. … If you want to be recognized as a top athlete, you’re out here playing, because it’s much easier to go to the pool or have a job in the summer, and when there’s also pressure on these athletes to do weightlifting, and work on other sports, it’s a sacrifice, and I recognize that sacrifice, and respect all three of them for that.”