Hawks sweep away South O’Brien in doubleheader
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn didn’t let the loss of a home game faze them as the Hawks took both ends of a road doubleheader over South O’Brien June 26 at Paullina. HMS began the evening with an 8-1 War Eagle Conference victory in a game that was rained out May 30 at Hartley. Game two saw the Hawks score two runs in the top of the seventh to pull out a 6-4 win and complete the sweep.
HMS 8, South O’Brien 1
Jacob Cates didn’t permit the Wolverines to extend their early 1-0 lead and HMS put up seven big runs in the fifth inning. Cates fanned 17 South O’Brien batters and allowed only one hit. The Wolverines’ first-inning run was unearned as it scored on a throwing error.
The winning hurler shrugged off the other three Hawk errors, walking only two Wolverines and hitting one.
The Hawks bunched five of their six hits in the fifth inning. They benefited from walks and errors both in that inning and in the fourth when they scored an unearned run to tie the game.
“We got off to a slow start last night, but I was happy to see the bats finally wake up there in the fifth,” said HMS head coach Jeremy Gloden. “We took advantage of some errors and some free bases. Jacob was very strong on the mound. I was happy with how he attacked the zone and threw a lot of strikes.”
The fifth inning began with a double by Evan Eilers. His courtesy runner, Aiden Bush later scored. Eilers also singled later in the inning. Tyson Tessum and Tanner Tesch each hit two-run singles and both came around to score. Trenton Vollink singled and scored and Ethan Diehm tallied a run after he was safe on a fielder’s choice. Cates, who walked, and Blake Meendering, who reached on an error, scored unearned runs. Vollink singled and scored the run in the fourth after the center fielder dropped a fly ball.
S. O’Brien 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1
HMS 0 0 0 1 7 0 x – 8
HMS 6, South O’Brien 4
The Hawks took a 4-1 lead in game two but South O’Brien knotted the score with three runs in the fourth.
“I was happy to see us get off to a quick start and take the lead right away,” offered Gloden. “Again, we were aggressive on the bases and took advantage of the extra opportunities given to us. Evan was strong on the mound to start, but ran into a little trouble in the fourth. Credit to South O’Brien, they battled back and made it tough on us. Tyson came in and really did a nice job of limiting their chances towards the end of the game. The turning point in the game came in the bottom of the sixth. The relay from the right field fence to cut the runner down at home for the final out was incredible. Ethan made a great throw and Tyson did a great job of being in position to get it to Jacob. Jacob stood in there and was able to get the tag down in time. Then, Tyson led off the seventh with a triple and scored on a passed ball. It was fun to finally see the ball bounce our way a little. A great night of baseball.”
HMS added an insurance run in the seventh as Cates reached on an error and the run scored following a fielder’s choice, a groundout and another error. In the first Tessum walked and scored on a passed ball. Cates was hit by a pitch and the run scored on a single by Bradley Van Beek. Meendering also had a hit in the inning. The Hawks plated two unearned runs in the third. Meendering got on board when a third strike was dropped and then Eilers reached on an error. Jack Mastbergen followed with a double. He also notched a single in the sixth inning.
In his 4-1/3 innings Eilers allowed the four earned runs on four hits. He walked five batters, struck out four and hit one. Tessum fanned five batters and yielded two hits in his 2-2/3 innings of work.
HMS 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 – 6
S. O’Brien 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 – 4