A late two-run rally and missed chances by Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn allowed Emmetsburg to slip past the Hawks 2-1 June 13 at Emmetsburg. HMS broke on top 1-0 in the first but was unable to add on during the course of the game.
“This one hurt,” admitted Hawk head coach Jeremy Gloden. “We had numerous chances to break through and open up our early 1-0 lead, but we just couldn’t get that one big hit. We left nine guys on base, and even if we find a way to get half of those guys home, it is a totally different ball game. Jacob (Cates) threw well, but struggled with his control at times. They managed their two runs off of two wild pitches in the bottom of the sixth. Again, we were about one pitch away from getting out of it 1-1. I told the guys baseball is a game of inches and the ball didn’t bounce our way tonight. We just need to continue to work on finding a way to break through at the plate. We continue to look for answers.”
Cates limited the E-Hawks to just one hit, a double in the third inning. The Emmetsburg sixth included a walk and two hit batters. Cates notched 12 strikeouts but walked four batters and hit an equal number. Cates committed the only error.
In the HMS first Tyson Tessum reached base on an error and advanced on a Tanner Tesch single. Bradley Van Beek followed with a base hit and Tessum slid safely home under a high throw to the catcher.
The Hawks loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth as a single by Van Beek was sandwiched between walks to Cates and Blake Meendering. The E-Hawks then made a pitching change and the next three HMS batters went down on strikes.
HMS 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1
E’burg 0 0 0 0 0 2 x – 2