The Fountain Hills High School baseball team started the 2022 season 0-5, but the Falcons won their last three games in a row. On Saturday, March 5, the Falcons outscored their opponents 35-4, and senior Zack Langer said, “we’re finally playing good again.”

Before the Falcons started winning, they lost 11-1 at Valley Christian last Thursday, and they lost 7-4 to Horizon Honors on Friday morning. The Falcons struck out 13 times against the Trojans, and sophomores Lucas Williams and Nathan Hughes only threw three strikeouts in return.

The Falcons played better against Horizon Honors. The Falcons only had three team strikeouts, and freshmen Aiden Cronican pitched the whole game. Cronican had three strikeouts and only allowed five hits. Fellow freshman Zion Sidhu hit his second double of the season against the Eagles, too.

The Falcons pitched and hit better against Parker on Friday night, and Fountain Hills won 14-4. Five Falcons had two RBI, including sophomore Ty Langer, who also hit his first triple of the season. The Falcons also got a lift from sophomore David Goldapper, who pitched nine strikeouts in 3.2 innings.

“David Goldapper is starting to get his control down,” sophomore Ty Flynn said. “He throws pretty hard, so he’ll probably be up there.”

Friday night’s victory carried over to Saturday, and the Falcons got two more tournament wins. On Saturday morning, the Falcons crushed Phoenix Country Day 20-2.

Ty Langer hit another triple and had five RBI on three hits against Phoenix Country Day. Upperclassmen, like seniors Zack Langer and Andy Lloyd, and junior Zack Mendello hit two RBI, and freshman Lucas Grieco matched them with two RBI of his own. Sophomore Nathan Hughes threw eight strikeouts and only allowed one hit in 3.1 innings.

“Lucas Grieco is a young freshman, but he can hit the ball,” Flynn said. “Yesterday at practice, he was putting the ball to the wall, so he’s going to be a kid to look out for. We got a lot of young guys, like Aiden Cronican, too. We’re trying to keep our freshman guys with it, so we have them as flex players. They can get the feel and they’ll always be ready if someone gets COVID-19 or something.”

The Falcons finished their tournament play with a 15-2 win over Joseph City on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons struck out twice as a team, and sophomore Lucas Williams threw six strikeouts in three innings while junior Kyle Biebrich pitched three strikeouts in two innings.

Lloyd had four RBI against Joseph City and Ty Langer hit his third triple in as many games and also had four RBI. Sidhu had two stolen bases against Joseph City as well.

The Falcons found momentum at a crucial point in their season. They will only have AIA-sanctioned matches from this point on, and those results affect the Falcons’ playoff chances. The season may have just started two weeks ago, but it will only ramp up from here.

The Falcons traveled to Payson yesterday, Tuesday, March 8, for a doubleheader matchup with the 2-4 Longhorns. The Falcons will travel again this Friday, March 11, for a game at Arizona College Prep at 3:45 p.m.

The JV Falcons will actually host Arizona College Prep this Friday at Fountain Hills Middle School at 3:45 p.m. It will be the first home game of the season, and the varsity squad won’t have their first home game until Tuesday, March 29, when they host region opponent Bourgade Catholic.

The Falcons have next week off for Spring Break, but they return to action on Tuesday, March 22. The Falcons will travel to San Tan Foothills and take on the Sabercats at 3:45 p.m.