Most baseball pitchers retire without ever having thrown a no-hitter, let alone be a part of two in the same week. But that's exactly what Fairhope senior and South Alabama signee Will Sparks did for the Pirates.

He started the week as the first of seven Pirate pitchers who recorded one-inning, hitless outings against Trinity Presbyterian on Tuesday, March 18. Sparks cruised through his appearance with three strikeouts to complement a 2-for-3 day at the plate with a home run, double and two RBIs in a 4-0 victory over the Wildcats.

Trinity was also kept out of the hit column by senior Huntingdon commit Miles Drew Johnson, junior Dean Gearhart, senior Darren Leggett and senior Coastal Alabama-South commit Harrison Cook who all struck out one batter in their inning pitched as seniors Jordan Miles and Huntingdon commit Miller Humphries both struck out two.

Sparks was then given the ball again on Friday, March 21, against Demopolis and helped Fairhope prevail in a pitcher's duel with 19 strikeouts.

Of the 21 outs in the game, 19 Tigers went down by way of the K at the hand of Sparks who was only one walk and error away from a perfect game. Classmate and West Alabama commit Blake Westry delivered a walk-off home run to seal the Pirates' 1-0 win and improve to 12-6 overall.

Sparks' 22 strikeouts over 8 innings pitched in two games helped him earn PBR Alabama's Pitcher of the Week honors for Week 5. Ranked as Prep Baseball Report's 17th-best pitcher in Alabama, Sparks checked in as the 61st overall prospect in the state.

Fairhope, head coached by Kyle Hunter, added wins over Bartlett (6-1), West Blocton (10-0), Marengo (7-0) and Richmond-Burton (12-2) as well as a loss to Enterprise (2-0) last weekend and earlier this week to sit at 16-7 overall. The Pirates were scheduled for a Friday evening contest against Mary G. Montgomery on the road.

After its first opening-round win since 2015 in last year’s playoffs, Fairhope will be searching for a repeat trip to the state quarterfinals and a fourth-straight area title this postseason.