HAZEN SPARKS

BUFFALO VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

The 2022 fall baseball season was certainly a good one for the Buffalo Valley Buffs and senior third baseman Hazen Sparks as he hit .387 last fall and helped the team get to the state championships but were gobbled up in the first round by eventual state champ Fort Cobb-Broxton.

“Going to state last year was certainly a highlight for me even though the outcome wasn’t great, but it was a good experience,” said Hazen who is also planning to play basketball this winter.

This will mark the fourth year that Sparks has been a starter for the Buffs and coach Shane Fry has watched him all along the way.

“Hazen started here as a freshman and has always been one of our top guys,” said Fry. “He generally leads the team in almost every offense category. He struggled in his early years at the plate but has really come on to be one of our biggest bats in the lineup the last two years.”.

With the loss of several key players from last year, Hazen will need to demonstrate his senior leadership this year with a fairly young team but he’s not new to that role.

“He’s been a leader since his sophomore year to some extent, but we’ll really need that this year with so many new faces in the lineup,” said Fry.

“I’m a winner and want to do whatever I can to win,” said Hazen. “I know I’ll have to help out a lot this year with these young guys. I try to lead by example but can be vocal if I need to be.”

While Sparks is an accomplished baseball player and would like to play in college, his future may be in the rodeo arena where he is the defending state high school steer wrestling champion and finished in the top eight in calf roping.

“My dad was in pro rodeo for 19 years and it was always something I wanted to do,” said Hazen who is also the FFA president at Buffalo Valley and has some college rodeo offers in hand already.