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In the first weekend of their 2016-2017 season, the Knights (2-1-1) tasted victory, defeat and that rarest of baseball dishes–the taste of a game then ended in a tie. At their annual trip to Fredericksburg to open the season, the defending district and bi-district champs dropped their opener to Fredericksburg, then tied Wimberley until finally scratching out wins over Burnet and
GAME ONE: Fredericksburg 3, McCallum 2
The Knights kicked off the varsity baseball season in Frederickburg on Friday afternoon with a 3-2 loss to the host Battlin’ Billies. Before the first pitch, Adam Vasquez and Cameron Stahl (’17) offered some encouragement to starting pitcher Jesse Reed (’17), who struck out 10, yielding only one earned run over six innings. The Knights played small ball to take the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth. After a double by Tyler Page (’17), Davis Roe (’18) entered the game as a pinch runner. After sacrifice bunts by Luke Whitefield and Ben Wangrin (’17), a sac fly by Eric Worden (’18) and a Billie error, the Knights led, 2-1. In the bottom of the sixth, however, the Billies plated two unearned runs that proved decisive in the game.
GAME TWO: McCallum 7, Wimberley 7 (tie)
In the first of two games they played on Saturday, the Knights battled the Wimberley Texans to a 7-7 tie. Both teams busted out the lumber, and both rallied from three-run deficits. Koehler Vandament (’18) doubled to drive in two runs, and Ben Wangrin (’17) went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Cameron Stahl (’17) had two hits and a run batted in four at-bats.
GAME THREE: McCallum 9, Burnet 6
The Knights defeated Burnet 9-6 on Saturday afternoon at the Fredericksburg tournament to earn their first win of the season. Mason Bryant (’18) slugged a two-run home run, and Luke Whitefield (’17) went 3-for-4 as winning pitcher Eric Worden (’18) struck out five. Worden also helped himself out at the plate with two runs batted in. Tyler Page (’17) had two hits in four at bats.
GAME FOUR: McCallum 3, Antonian 2
Adam Vasquez must have earned the game ball from Coach Houston after the senior earned his first win of the season, giving up no earned runs and walking only one over six-plus innings. Vasquez was also the offensive star of the game, going 2-for-3 and driving in the game-winning run. He hit the last of three consecutive RBI singles in the fourth inning to give the Knights the 3-2 lead they held throughout the game. Ben Wangrin (’17) and Eric Worden (’18) preceded Vasquez’s knock with RBI singles of their own following an Antonian error that kept the inning alive.
NOTEWORTHY:
Congrats to baseball alum Jonah Smith (’16) for earning his first collegiate win on Saturday. The Abilene Christian hurler pitched 3 1/3 scoreless inning in a 4-1 win over North Dakota State.
![A PRIDE-FUL WEEK OF CELEBRATION:
As part of AISDs week-long celebration of PRIDE, students of the McCallum Spectrum Club worked to create a week full of activities, prizes and helping hands to support the schools LGBTQ+ community. The club is widely available for anyone to join, and specializes in creating a safe space for students to share and give advice. While Pride month itself isn’t until June, AISD designates one week in March to celebrate and commemorate the importance of this part of the student body.
As part of the week of festivities, the club held a booth in the front hall handing out pride stickers, pins and merch to passers by. For junior Zane Joly, the booth idea was brought up as a way for students to engage with one another, and connect with the community.
“I call out to people in the halls, ‘hey, do you want stickers?’” Joly said. “We just give out free pride stickers and sometimes other free pride merch to the students of Macallum because everybody likes pride stickers.”
While the week itself is packed with a variety of different activities, the overall goal is to bring students closer together and create a safer environment for self expression at McCallum.
“The idea for the student panel largely came from the black [history] student panel that is done during Black History Month,” Joly said. “And the idea for giving out free stuff was developed at Spectrum last year.”
Joly is not only a member of the Spectrum club, but also holds a leadership position giving them a more hands-on role with the projects and Pride Week activities.
“McCallum has a very high queer population,” Joly said. “I think Its nice that we get a chance to celebrate Pride because Pride Month is during the summer, and I think its just a nice thing for the community and getting to just celebrate it.”
While the merch table at lunch was only a small part of the numerous parts of McCallum’s Pride week, for Joly this small impact made all the difference.
“The purpose of Pride is to make people not feel alone and to make them feel safe,” Joly said. “The goal is [to make people] happy about a part of themselves that theyre often conditioned to not feel good about.”
Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Shila Gill.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/53597258192_6e7168d8ae_o-1-1200x676.jpg)
Bablofil • Feb 26, 2017 at 4:11 am
Thanks, great article.