St. Charles Baseball Records First Win in School History

Zach Bush, the head coach for the St. Charles varsity baseball team, is going to be spending more money than usual on dinner this Tuesday. That's because Bush will be taking his entire team out on his dime to celebrate the team's 8-5 win over Lackey last Friday.

While a win may seem like no big deal to some programs, the Spartans' win was anything but that- it was the first victory on the baseball diamond in St. Charles school history.

"One of our team goals set at the beginning of the year was our program's first win," Bush said. "Once we did it, they knew they would have dinner on me. So they'll be cashing in on that after practice on Tuesday. That is a hit on my banking account that I will certainly take."

St. Charles is a new high school in Charles County. The school opened last year with students from grades 9-11 attending. This is the second season for baseball at St. Charles. The Spartans are a young bunch, with 10 players on their roster being sophomores or younger.

On Friday, the Spartans handed the ball to their ace, junior Elindsay Dodson. Just like his first two starts of the season, Dodson went the distance, throwing all seven frames for the Spartans.

"Our goal with him was to throw strikes, pitch to contact, and to trust our defense. Our philosophy is to be competitive with every single pitch, and he was on Friday," Bush said. "He was relatively efficient, especially once we got the lead. Two big shut down innings in the second and fourth after we scored were invaluable."

The team also got a savvy performance from Dylan Bell, the team's catcher. Dodson and Bell worked well together, with Dodson not shaking off Bell frequently.

Offensively, the big inning for St. Charles came in the third. Trailing 4-2 to start the frame, senior shortstop Cody Hill, who leads the team with a .478 batting average, started the rally with a walk. Gage Dietrich singled, which was followed by a walk by Bell to load the bases. John Boling then drew a walk to score Hill, and Devon Williams hit into a fielder's choice to bring home Dietrich.

With the game tied, Tim Sprouse cracked a single to give St. Charles its first lead of the game. Dodson then reached on an error to score Williams. The scoring ended after Tysne Smith singled home Sprouse to make the score 7-4.

The rally gave St. Charles the lead permanently. Lackey managed just one more run, as the Spartans cruised to their first ever win.

When the final out was recorded on a foul out caught by Williams at first base, the Spartans were excited, but able to keep their emotions in check out of respect for their opponents. That as much as anything made Bush proud of his team.

"I think the biggest thing for the players, coaches, friends of the program and parents was a collective sigh of relief. We all know how hard these players work day in and day out- it was very satisfying to see them enjoy the fruits of their labor," Bush said. "There was some fist pumps, hugging and a lot of celebration in our team huddle after shaking hands."

Looking ahead, Bush has a lot of goals set out for the St. Charles baseball program. Some include improving as a player and team every day, as well as maintaining a 3.0 GPA as a team. Others are more results based on the field, like winning a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference championship, a region title and an MPSSAA state championship.

Bush is aware it will take time for the program to get that far. For now, he just hopes his players take the time to enjoy crossing off one of the goals from the list.

"I said to the players multiple times throughout the game to take a moment and soak it in," Bush said. "I want them to remember what that success feels like because there is plenty more success to come throughout the season, and in years to come."