It was an improbable ending to the season for the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn baseball boys. George-Little Rock inflicted a 14-run inning on the Hawks and went on to win the Class 1A District 1 tournament opener 14-1 July 12 at Remsen. The Mustangs improved to 5-16 while HMS closes the book on 2021 with a final record of 10-12.
“We had one inning where things started going sideways and it snowballed on us,” said Hawk head coach Jeremy Gloden. “This was not the outcome we wanted or envisioned. It was a frustrating end for sure, but we made a lot of good strides this season and we will continue to build on that for the future.”
The monster (monstrous if you’re a Hawk fan) third inning for George-Little Rock featured five hits, all of them singles, along with nine walks and three errors. All but three of the runs were earned.
The HMS run was scored in the fifth inning. It was accomplished on a leadoff home run to right center off the bat of Dawson Schiphoff. Jordan Ortega and Trenton Vollink drew walks later in the inning. The Hawks put three runners on base in the second as Jacob Cates singled and Vollink and Nick Bronstad walked. Schiphoff reached base on an error in the third. Vollink and Bronstad again drew walks in the fourth inning. That totals eight runners left on base by HMS. The Mustangs stranded half that number.
Starting pitcher Ortega allowed only a single through the first two innings. He faced five batters to start the third. All of them eventually scored. Samuel Heyn moved to the mound and pitched 2/3 of an inning. That stint included nine runs on two hits. Heyn walked six batters and struck out one. Ortega returned to the pitching rubber to get the final out of the third. He then faced the minimum number of batters in the fourth and fifth, helped by a lineout to center fielder Schiphoff who threw to Ben Haack to double the baserunner off first. All told, Ortega allowed five earned runs on four hits. He walked three batters and struck out two.
The Hawks’ 2021 campaingn was one of highs and lows. “Looking back on the season as a whole, it was definitely a roller coaster ride,” remarked Gloden. “We started out hot and then went through that rough patch in early June. We picked things back up here at the end of the year before finally dropping our last two games. I’m very proud of what this group accomplished. Going from two wins to ten just doesn’t happen overnight. The goal coming into the season was seven to eight wins, and we surpassed that. We were also able to move up in the War Eagle standings (HMS finished eighth), which was another goal. Moving forward, we will use this game as motivation to keep working to get better this off-season.”
Three who won’t be part of that effort are this year’s graduates: Haack, Heyn and Schiphoff. “It will be hard to see our three seniors go,” acknowledged Gloden. “Sam, Dawson, and Ben have been a part of the baseball program for five years, and have been multiple-year starters. It will be tough to make up for the experience they brought to the team. I was glad to see them have the success they did in their final season. They are a great group of young men who will do great things in the future.”
GLR 0 0 14 0 0 – 14
HMS 0 0 0 0 1 – 1