The Staples baseball team hosted Joel Barlow High School in its second home scrimmage of the season on March 30 and came away with an 18-5 win.

The team has won three of its four preseason scrimmages, “We have improved greatly throughout the four scrimmages we have played so far. I think this team has a ton of potential to make a huge run in the State and FCIAC playoffs,” co-captain Ben Casparius ‘17 said.

Coming off a very successful 2015 season with a record of 22-6, the team is hoping to not only continue their success, but are striving to further it, “Our goal is to win two rings this year (the FCIAC and State tournaments) and we are expecting nothing less,” Co-Captain Nathan Panzer ‘16 said.

“The scrimmage today went great,” Panzer added. “We had a lot of guys get in and put great swings on the ball so there’s a lot to be proud of offensively.”

As Panzer stated, the Wreckers’ offense was extremely solid against the Barlow defense, as they totaled double digit runs by the fourth inning, with multiple players contributing to the score book.

Chad Knight ‘19 got Staples going on the offensive end with an RBI single, allowing Panzer and Casparius to score in the bottom of the first inning. Panzer continued the streak in the bottom of the second inning with a two RBI single, followed by a two RBI triple to the center field fence by Casparius.

Staples’ hitting took off in the third and fourth innings and appeared to be unstoppable, as the Wreckers tallied five runs in each.

To start off the scoring in the bottom of the third, Max Popken ‘18 hit an RBI double, followed by an RBI by Ryan Fitton ‘17 and a wild pitch which allowed Popken to reach home plate. Panzer got on first with a hard grounder to center field and stole second, after which Casparius was walked. Co-Captain Noah Yokoi ‘16 hit an RBI double to allow Panzer to score, followed by an RBI by Michael Cusa ‘16 to bring Casparius home.

The Barlow pitchers struggled throughout the game, particularly in the bottom of the fourth inning, and Staples took full advantage. After Max Richlin ‘16 and Michael Cusa ‘16 took their bases on walks, Robert Stone ‘17 hit a single to left field to load the bases. Daniel Call ‘16 was also walked, allowing Richlin to score. The next three batters, Tripp Backus ‘17, Adam Feur ‘17 and Chris Drbal ‘18 combined to add four more runs to the score.

Staples added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, with Richlin and Cusa scoring the final runs for the Wreckers.

Staples also put up a strong defensive effort, with pitchers Michael Fanning ‘17, Fitton and Knight combining for a total of seven strikeouts. “The pitchers did a great job battling and working through six flawless innings,” Casparius said. The Staples defense allowed only one run within the first four innings of the game.

“I thought that we played really well today,” Fitton said, “Everybody pitched well and the defense backed them up, and offensively we hit great.”

The team’s season officially begins on Apr. 2 against Bridgeport Central as they begin their journey to reach their post-season goals.