As the No. 3 hitter for Meridian, senior Zac Spangler has a pretty good gig.
Hot hitting speedsters Christian and Monte Petre get on base a lot and are so fast that any position is pretty
much a scoring position.
Spangler has made the most of the situation.
By the end of the Jack Pine Conference season, he had posted a .524 batting average with one home run,
nine doubles and a team-leading 44 RBI.
“He’s done a little bit of everything for us,” said Mustangs Coach Mark Novak. “With the twins hitting one
and two, he gets a lot of chances with runners on base and he has done a good job seeing the ball, hitting it
hard and getting the runs in for us.”
Spangler is in his third year as the starting catcher and he was already good enough to sign with Alma
before this season started.
He’s even better now.
“We moved him up from six in the order to No. 3,” Novak said. “He’s definitely a better hitter. He played
football and lifted some weights and his strength has really improved. He’s always been a good hitter, but
he’s able to drive the ball more now.”
Meridian finished the Jack Pine campaign with a 13-1 record, good for a tie with Clare for the conference
championship. The loss to the Pioneers was the only one in the first 28 games for the Mustangs, who
headed into the final weeks of the regular season ranked No. 2 in the state, behind only Grosse Pointe
Woods University Liggett.
Having a force behind the plate has been a major factor.
“Zac is a really good catcher, and having him back there makes my job a lot easier,” said Novak. “He’s
played a lot of summer ball and worked with a lot of people on his catching. He’s put in a lot of effort and
our whole team benefits from it.”