Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn was provided a number of openings against South O’Brien and the Hawks walked on in. HMS combined 10 hits with four walks, four hit batters and three Wolverine errors to defeat their hosts 12-4 June 28 at Paullina. “We took advantage of the free base runners and extra opportunities given to us,” stated HMS head coach Jeremy Gloden.
The Hawks manufactured a run in the first following Dawson Schiphoff’s leadoff single. HMS took a 4-0 lead with three more runs in the second. Trenton Vollink recorded a base hit, Nick Bronstad and Schiphoff were hit by pitches, Keith DeBoer walked and Ben Haack reached on an error.
Keaton Graves, Jordan Ortega and Haack each notched singles in a five-run third inning. Both Bronstad and Jacob Cates were hit by pitches and Vollink took advantage of an error to reach base.
South O’Brien put two unearned runs on the board in the third and added another unearned marker in the sixth to cut the deficit to 9-3. The Hawks got a little insurance in the seventh. Ortega singled and Samuel Heyn doubled. Cates picked up an RBI when he was safe on a fielder’s choice and Haack doubled home two more runs. The Wolverines could muster only one run in response during the bottom half of the inning.
Haack went 3-for-5 at the dish and Vollink was 2-for-5. “I was glad to see Ben and Trenton get multiple hits,” said Gloden. “We have been looking for more production from the bottom of our lineup.”
Ortega recorded two hits with one hit apiece coming from Schiphoff, Heyn and Graves. Schiphoff, Ortega and Haack each drove in a pair of runs with single RBI’s credited to Heyn, Cates, Vollink, Bronstad and DeBoer. Haack, Vollink and Bronstad each scored twice. Crossing the plate once were Schiphoff, Heyn, Cates and Graves. One run each went into the scorebook for courtesy runners Tyson Tessum and Ethan Diehm.
Ortega went 6-1/3 innings to get the win. He allowed three runs (all unearned) on three hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. “Jordan did a nice job on the mound and was very solid,” said Gloden. Nailing down the win was Schiphoff. He yielded an earned run on three hits to accompany two strikeouts and a walk. There were two HMS errors in the game.
HMS 1 0 3 5 0 0 3 – 12
S. O’Brien 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 – 4