CANDLER, N.C. - Jonathan Reece ’25 ran the bases like it was no big deal Saturday, waiting for every runner in front of him to properly touch second, third, and home plate.
It wasn’t even the catcher’s first grand slam in a little over a year with the Christ School baseball program, which speaks to the kind of run that Jonathan has been on.
He and the team are 3-0 after a doubleheader sweep of SouthLake Christian Academy, 6-5 and 8-3.
“It was a pretty cool moment,” Jonathan said.
“I struggled the first game (of the doubleheader) and just told myself to calm down and trust yourself because instincts are what happen in baseball.”
Some notable firsts for other Greenie players occurred over the course of Saturday’s doubleheader, played on a turf infield at Bob Lewis Ballpark in Candler, N.C.
Freshman Garin Gosnell ‘27 was the winning pitcher in Game 2. He gave up one earned run, one hit, and three walks while striking out four in 2.1 innings of work.
Pete Boatwright ‘25 (Game 1) and Corbin Spillilards ’27 (Game 2) homered for the first time as Greenies. Jonathan’s grand slam came in the second inning of Game 2. He leads the team so far with seven RBIs.
Leadoff Ethan Rose ’24 was 2-for-4 in both games with two RBIs in Game 2. Jonathan was 2-4 in Game 2 and also had a double.
Christ School used eight different pitchers in the doubleheader with Brevard College recruit Jacob Wilde ’24 (Game 1) and Pete (Game 2) closing things out. Wells Alderman ’26 was the winning pitcher in Game 1, going 2.1 innings with two runs allowed (both earned), two hits, and one walk with three strikeouts.
“We’re sttill trying to find our way a little bit,” Greenies coach Wes King P’27 said.
“We wanted to get some guys in (Saturday) and use this as a springboard to the big tournament we’ll be playing in Florida. We had some good innings, we just haven’t put enough of them together like we would like, but we’ll take it this early in the year.
As Coach King alluded to, the Greenies are headed to the Sunshine State for the Florida League High School Invitational, which runs March 11-15 in Sanford, Fla.
Their first game in pool play is next Monday against Clearwater (Fla.).
“We’ll see some really good teams,” Coach King said.
“When you play at Christ School and have the program that we have, you want to challenge the kids and give them an opportunity to play in a national tournament like this. It should provide some opportunities to get better against some high-quality teams.”