(June 2, 2025 – Coppell, TX) The Spirits (45+) offense had an early start prior to being held scoreless for a handful of innings but in the fifth, it began to snow, and snow hard, so much that the squad was able to build a snowman and walk away with an 8-run fifth inning that helped them pace the Knights for a 10 to 3 win in NTABL Masters Division action Monday night.
Use of the bullpen led to 3 runs late for the Knights but it wasn’t enough as the Spirits found enough out of a 14-man lineup to pull away and to secure the victory. Starting pitcher, Jonathan Duran looked fantastic once again, pitching 4 innings and allowing no runs off 4 scattered his while striking out 2 and walking none. Travis Hitzeman picked up an inning of work, allowing one earned after hitting one batter and walking another, and Kevin Simmons closed up the game with an inning of work, allowing an unearned run against no hits and one strikeout.
Eric McPherson finished 2-for-2 including a double, a walk, 2 runs scored, an RBI, and a pair of stolen bases while Mike Sopocy added a 1-for-1 night with a run scored, RBI and a walk. Simmons added a double, run scored, and a pair of runs batted in, while Eric Goetz followed suit with a double, run scored and a run batted in as well. Shawn Hunt also went 1-for-1 with a walk and a run batted in. Nearly every Spirit hit safely before the contest ended.
Cliff Brade led off the game by drawing a walk and later scored second. McPherson’s double to the left centerfield gap scored Brade for an early 1 to 0 lead. Kirk Sipila was able to score McPherson after he stole third when Sipila grounded out to the right side, giving the Spirits a 2 to 0 lead before Hitzeman and Shawn Lee flew out to close the top half of the first.
Things remained fairly quiet the next few innings until the floodgates of offense opened for the Spirits in the fifth. McPherson led things off with a single and after stealing second base, Sipila moved him to third with a single. Sipila advanced on the throw and later scored on Lee’s RBI single. Dale Baird reached on an error that pushed Lee to third, and after Baird later took second base, both runners scored on a double by Simmons. Chris Lewis returned to the Spirits lineup but lost a battle on strikes before Goetz followed with a double to replace Simmons at second, scoring him to give the ghosts an 8 to 0 lead. Sopocy’s RBI single scored Goetz and Sopocy moved to third when Dee Mauldin singled. Both runners advanced on a double-steal and an RBI single by Hunt scored Sopocy. The Knights turned to Michael Miller at pitcher to replace starter, Matthew Lawley and Earl German welcomed him to the game by drawing a walk but not before Mauldin crossed the plate on a wild pitch to make it 10 to 0, Spirits. Miller eventually was able to get Stacy Scott to fly out to stop the scoring.
“It was an unusual effort tonight,” Lee mentioned afterwards. ” We had a lot of mouths to feed with that many hitters in the lineup. Sometimes it’s hard to get a rhythm going but we got the job done and there were some key hits and plays that kept the game in check. We always seem to Jekyll and Hyde the Knights, so we never know what group is going to show up. We’ll have their number one night, they’ll have ours the next; more often than not, in a playoff game. So, we’ll take the win but we’ll never sleep without an eye open against this group.”
The Spirits return to action next Monday night when they visit the Reds at the Coppell ISD Baseball Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30PM and fans can click here for schedule details or to download the iScore Central app to listen to the game live, online.
Five Star Ford Players of the Game
Eric McPherson (2-2, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 SB)
Kevin Simmons (1-2, 2B, R, 2 RBI; IP, 0 H, 0 ER)
Eric Goetz (1-2, 2B, R, RBI)