Unity Christian strikes early to top Hawks
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn could not be accused of being inhospitable hosts. The Hawks served up five first-inning runs to Unity Christian and the Knights went on to score an 8-3 War Eagle Conference victory June 9 at Hartley. With the loss, HMS fell to 0-5 in the conference and 2-8 overall.
“I thought we came out flat and spotted them five runs right away,” observed Hawk head coach Jeremy Gloden. “That was disappointing for sure, but after that we battled them to the final out. We need to continue to find a way to put a full seven innings together consistently.”
HMS got on the board in the second inning and each team tallied a run in the third. A run in the fifth brought the Hawks within three at 6-3 but Unity tacked on two more runs in the sixth. There were plenty of runners stranded on the bases as the Knights left nine aboard and HMS eight.
Jacob Cates singled in the first inning and hit an RBI double in the third. Bradley Van Beek also notched a pair of hits. A bases-loaded single from Josh Cruz drove in the first HMS run. The fifth inning saw another RBI single, this time from Tanner Tesch. Tyson Tessum walked three times and came around to score in both the third and fifth innings. Blake Meendering walked and scored in the first where Jack Mastbergen also drew a walk.
Evan Eilers got the starting pitching assignment and went 3-2/3 innings. His line showed six runs on seven hits with two walks, a strikeout and a hit batter. Five of the runs were earned. Tessum’s 3-1/3 innings of relief included two earned runs on three hits. He struck out one batter and walked one. The Hawks were guilty of four errors.
Unity 5 0 1 0 0 2 0 – 8
HMS 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 – 3