cardtilldeath
05-25-2006, 01:13 PM
Non-stop Sparks wants to play on
By Dave Rogers
The Port Arthur News
BRIDGE CITY -- It doesn't happen often, but occasionally one of Cody Sparks' coaches gives his players a day off from games and practice.
"I feel weird when I go home at 3:30 and get in that traffic," Sparks says.
Imagine how weird the fellow named Bridge City's Outstanding Senior Athlete will feel next year, when he's competing in only one sport, on a football scholarship at Tulane University.
"I don't know. I'm kind of ready to get down to one sport," he says. "But I know when basketball rolls around, I'll miss playing, because I've played (basketball) all my life."
What hasn't the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Sparks played?
At Bridge City High School, he has been a three-year standout in football, basketball, track and baseball. He's currently the starting left fielder for the No. 1-ranked baseball team in Class 3A, hitting in the No. 5 spot in the order for the Cardinals.
"He's just a good solid athlete, who works hard and does well in whatever he tries," BC athletic director Claude Tarver says. "He probably could have been a good golfer or tennis player if he wanted to. But he doesn't have time."
Sparks says he played soccer, basketball and baseball as a youngster, trading in soccer for football in the sixth grade and beginning a track career in the seventh grade.
He has been all-district and a key cog on playoff teams for BC in football, basketball and baseball. He went to the regional track meet three times as a hurdler.
"I'm going to miss my friends and the bus trips going places," he says.
Sparks was asked to calculate the number of miles and hours he'd logged over the years on buses traveling to out-of-town sports contests.
"Oh, wow," was all he could say.
But he can tell you exactly when he had the craziest sports schedule.
"My freshman year, I went to basketball practice before school in the morning. I had fourth period football (athletic period), then I went to track practice after school, then after that to baseball practice," he recalls.
Now, though, his schedule is winding down. As a senior, he has finished his classes and spends his mornings running and lifting weights to ensure he's in tip-top shape when he reports in August for two-a-days at Tulane, where he has been penciled in as an outside linebacker.
Sparks says football has always been his favorite sport and that working out diligently has led to his success.
"I weighed 185 pounds as a sophomore. Now I'm 225, so working out is paying off," he says. "It has gotten me a scholarship, so now I'm just trying to be good at the next level."
Besides his graduation ceremony, all that remains of Sparks' participation at Bridge City High is the Cardinals' run in the baseball playoffs.
Naturally, he's in no hurry for it to end.
Coach Billy Bryant's team plays Columbus, an old playoff rival, in a one-game Region III-3A semifinal playoff game Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Deer Park.
The Cardinals swept Columbus in a best of three series in last year's regional semis, but Columbus' own Cardinals beat Sparks and BC in an area-round playoff meeting in 2004.
Pitcher Taylor Janak was the winning pitcher for Columbus in that 2004 matchup and he's still around to worry Bryant and his BC players.
"That Janak kid is a good pitcher. It'll be tough," says Bryant, who was not thrilled about losing a coin flip and being forced to play a one-and-done playoff instead of a best-of-three series.
"The bottom line is if you win, you play one more week," the coach says. "If you don't, you're going to have to do something else."
Sparks had always played catcher as a youngster, but when he got to the BC baseball team, he found out he had to do something else -- play left field.
"I guess I just started getting too tall to catch and we had a good catcher in front of me, Ben Myers, so I went to the outfield," he recalls. "It was tough at first."
Now Sparks patrols the outfield with the best of them. He made a pair of outstanding plays in Bridge City's series-clinching win over Barbers Hill last week, Bryant said.
"They were really, really important catches that were a big part of the game," the coach recalled. "One was a catch running to his left after a Barbers Hill kid hit a good shot into left-center. The other one came with runners on first and second and no outs, and Cody went to his right near the fence.
"Those were good catches on the run that were really big in the game."
Sparks' bat has been especially hot lately. He is batting .367 with 39 RBIs. Two of his three home runs have come the past two weeks, one against Kirbyville in the area round and one last week against Barbers Hill.
"He's a big strong kid and when his timing is good, he can hit the ball hard and hit it a long ways," Bryant said. "I moved him to the No. 5 position batting behind Angelle (Kevin Angelle, the team's top hitter at .457), hoping that people wouldn't pitch around Angelle, and Cody's timing has gotten much better the last couple of weeks.
"He's come on strong at the end of the year. He's had a good year, but he's really picked it up a notch the last couple of weeks."
If BC's Cardinals get past Columbus, they play the winner of a series between Cameron Yoe and Lufkin Hudson for a trip to the state tournament. Sparks and Co. -- he's one of six senior starters for BC -- made it to state a year ago, but weren't happy with a loss in the semifinals.
"It felt good to go to state last year," he says, "but it hurt going that far and losing. We're trying to get back this year and hopefully win two more games."
Then Cody Sparks can take a well-earned day off.
By Dave Rogers
The Port Arthur News
BRIDGE CITY -- It doesn't happen often, but occasionally one of Cody Sparks' coaches gives his players a day off from games and practice.
"I feel weird when I go home at 3:30 and get in that traffic," Sparks says.
Imagine how weird the fellow named Bridge City's Outstanding Senior Athlete will feel next year, when he's competing in only one sport, on a football scholarship at Tulane University.
"I don't know. I'm kind of ready to get down to one sport," he says. "But I know when basketball rolls around, I'll miss playing, because I've played (basketball) all my life."
What hasn't the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Sparks played?
At Bridge City High School, he has been a three-year standout in football, basketball, track and baseball. He's currently the starting left fielder for the No. 1-ranked baseball team in Class 3A, hitting in the No. 5 spot in the order for the Cardinals.
"He's just a good solid athlete, who works hard and does well in whatever he tries," BC athletic director Claude Tarver says. "He probably could have been a good golfer or tennis player if he wanted to. But he doesn't have time."
Sparks says he played soccer, basketball and baseball as a youngster, trading in soccer for football in the sixth grade and beginning a track career in the seventh grade.
He has been all-district and a key cog on playoff teams for BC in football, basketball and baseball. He went to the regional track meet three times as a hurdler.
"I'm going to miss my friends and the bus trips going places," he says.
Sparks was asked to calculate the number of miles and hours he'd logged over the years on buses traveling to out-of-town sports contests.
"Oh, wow," was all he could say.
But he can tell you exactly when he had the craziest sports schedule.
"My freshman year, I went to basketball practice before school in the morning. I had fourth period football (athletic period), then I went to track practice after school, then after that to baseball practice," he recalls.
Now, though, his schedule is winding down. As a senior, he has finished his classes and spends his mornings running and lifting weights to ensure he's in tip-top shape when he reports in August for two-a-days at Tulane, where he has been penciled in as an outside linebacker.
Sparks says football has always been his favorite sport and that working out diligently has led to his success.
"I weighed 185 pounds as a sophomore. Now I'm 225, so working out is paying off," he says. "It has gotten me a scholarship, so now I'm just trying to be good at the next level."
Besides his graduation ceremony, all that remains of Sparks' participation at Bridge City High is the Cardinals' run in the baseball playoffs.
Naturally, he's in no hurry for it to end.
Coach Billy Bryant's team plays Columbus, an old playoff rival, in a one-game Region III-3A semifinal playoff game Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Deer Park.
The Cardinals swept Columbus in a best of three series in last year's regional semis, but Columbus' own Cardinals beat Sparks and BC in an area-round playoff meeting in 2004.
Pitcher Taylor Janak was the winning pitcher for Columbus in that 2004 matchup and he's still around to worry Bryant and his BC players.
"That Janak kid is a good pitcher. It'll be tough," says Bryant, who was not thrilled about losing a coin flip and being forced to play a one-and-done playoff instead of a best-of-three series.
"The bottom line is if you win, you play one more week," the coach says. "If you don't, you're going to have to do something else."
Sparks had always played catcher as a youngster, but when he got to the BC baseball team, he found out he had to do something else -- play left field.
"I guess I just started getting too tall to catch and we had a good catcher in front of me, Ben Myers, so I went to the outfield," he recalls. "It was tough at first."
Now Sparks patrols the outfield with the best of them. He made a pair of outstanding plays in Bridge City's series-clinching win over Barbers Hill last week, Bryant said.
"They were really, really important catches that were a big part of the game," the coach recalled. "One was a catch running to his left after a Barbers Hill kid hit a good shot into left-center. The other one came with runners on first and second and no outs, and Cody went to his right near the fence.
"Those were good catches on the run that were really big in the game."
Sparks' bat has been especially hot lately. He is batting .367 with 39 RBIs. Two of his three home runs have come the past two weeks, one against Kirbyville in the area round and one last week against Barbers Hill.
"He's a big strong kid and when his timing is good, he can hit the ball hard and hit it a long ways," Bryant said. "I moved him to the No. 5 position batting behind Angelle (Kevin Angelle, the team's top hitter at .457), hoping that people wouldn't pitch around Angelle, and Cody's timing has gotten much better the last couple of weeks.
"He's come on strong at the end of the year. He's had a good year, but he's really picked it up a notch the last couple of weeks."
If BC's Cardinals get past Columbus, they play the winner of a series between Cameron Yoe and Lufkin Hudson for a trip to the state tournament. Sparks and Co. -- he's one of six senior starters for BC -- made it to state a year ago, but weren't happy with a loss in the semifinals.
"It felt good to go to state last year," he says, "but it hurt going that far and losing. We're trying to get back this year and hopefully win two more games."
Then Cody Sparks can take a well-earned day off.