By Derek Simon

The 2020 townball season got off to a late start due to the COVID virus. Instead of a three month season from the beginning of May to the end of July, the season consisted only of the month of July. Instead of a season of 20-30 games, the Hawks would only play an 8 game regular season.

Most seasons townball teams start their year when the younger players are still in college. This gives the older playrs on each team, around 2-3 weeks to get into form. With no May season, the veteran players would not have those games. At the same time, those college players who would play colege ball until they returned home for townball, would have heirseasonsshutdowninthemiddleofMarch. Withonly8 egular season games, Hawks manager Shawn Matson had to ry and get as many guys into games as he could, while still rying to compete in arguably the most dif_cult conference

n Minnesota.

The Hawks moved to Class C a few seasons ago to rebuild, nd to compete with teams, manager Shawn Matson continued to mold the roster to the vision he had when he took he managers job. Shawn wanted to make the Hawks a true Hastings team where the core of the roster would come from Hastings and Cottage Grove. The rest of the roster would be supplemented by players from surrounding communities within the 30 miles. Instead of a team of mercenaries from everal towns, Matson wanted this team to be the pride of Hastings where the highest level of baseball could be played ach week at Vets park with largely Hastings guys playing with Hastings written on their chests. Guys who take pride n their town and want to win as a community.

Many teams we play do not take this route, its solely about winning. Some have built in advantages, such as North- _eld and Dundas who can draw many players from St. Olaf

nd Carleton colleges. Smaller towns such as Hampton and Miesville like to suggest they are the little guys taking on big old Hastings and Red Wing, when in reality they draw from much larger towns. Hampton is mainly anApple Valley and Lakeville team, while Miesville is largely a Woodbury team. Perception is not always reality.

With this mission in place, Matson built a culture of signing and playing several former Hastings Raiders varsity stars. It started with Cole Benson. Benson helped recruit Blake Warner, Cory Wolters, and Doug Nordine. This year a new group of Hastings players joined the core of the team. Isaac Flynn, Jake Biermaier, Will Lavin, Zack Jorgenson and Drew Davis. On any given night, the Hawks would start between _ve and seven Hastings players with an age between 19 and

22. These youngsters would play against other teams much older and drawing largely from much bigger cities.

The highlight of the 2020 season was the opener when Class A, Baseball 365, came to Vets Field to open the Hawks season. The Hawks shocked the townball world with an 8-2 win. In his _rst game, Drew Davis would have three hits to lead the way. Veteran Jesse Olson would earn his _rst townball victory. Olson, who has always been a great teammate, was greeted after the game with very happy teammates who were thrilled he got the victory.

After the Hawks lost their second and third games of the year to class C powers, Cannon Falls and Red Wing, they were able to win their second game of the season 8-4 over Lake City. The past few years, both Hastings and Lake City have been rebuilding and improving. The rivalry grew last year when the teams had a playoff series which Lake City won. In this years victory, Will Lavin stared on the mound, and the team would score _ve runs in the seventh inning

to take control. Veteran Nick Horsch would get the save. Horsch would throw just ten pitches, all strikes, to get the

_nal four outs.

The Hawks then would close the regular season with _ve

straight losses. There was a recurring theme to the shot season, the guys struggled to hit the ball especially in key situations.

Although the team _nished the regular season with a 2-6 record, four of the six losses were by one or two runs. The difference in a 2-6 record and a 6-2 record was really one or two hits in each game. As frustrating as it was at times, this young team is learning how to play in a league where most players are much older than they are. The talent is there for this group, and if they stick together, I have no doubt a series of state tournament runs are in their future.

The post season started the same way as the regular season, with a 4-2 loss to Waseca. The Hawks would have eleven runners stranded on base, seven of them at least reached second base. Blake Warner’s single in the eighth inning, which scored pinch runner Zack Jorgenson, was the only Hawks hit with a runner on base for the game. Waseca would score all four of their runs in the _fth inning and held on for

the victory.

The Hawks then overwhelmed Pine City in their elimination game 12-7. The Hawks scored a season high twelve runs on a season high thirteen hits. The Hawks jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings and then cruised to the victory. Jake Dale led the way with three hits, Isaac Flynn and Joey Muerer added two hits each.

The season would end when the Hawks were again eliminated by Lake City by a score of 6-0. Blake Warner would reach on three base hits and Jake Dale would add two hits, but the rest of the line up struggled to solve Serpents star pitcher Ryan Wolfe.

The Hawks would _nish the season with a 3-8 record. As

frustrating as it was at times, this young team is learning how to play in a league where most players are much older than they are. The talent is there for this group, and if they stick together, I have no doubt a series of state tournament runs are in their future.

Our board is committed to doing everything we can for Hastings baseball. We work with every organization in town. We host HYAA tournaments at the _eld, opening day for

Raidernation baseball, Varsity and JV high school games, fall baseball games, and even Little Raiders football games. Our

board members average over 100 hours each at the _eld each

season as we promote not only the Hawks, but all Hastings baseball. We have also volunteered to write these articles and to work with HCTV to give the team more exposure and the fans more content. We will continue to try to improve the experiences at our games, as well as continue to improve the _eld and the surrounding area. The Hawks board paid for the

concession stand, the shed, the press box and clubhouse. We are committed to continuing to upgrading Vets Park.

Thank you to all our fans, sponsors, and board for a trying but fun season. We hope to have a “normal” season next year. We encourage you all to follow us on our facebook page, on twitter, and on our Hastings Hawks website.

A foggy, late-night game. Coaches from Cottage Grove and Hastings discuss player safety with the umpire during Saturday nights tournament game. The game was called for safety reasons, tied 2-2. Photo courtsey of Bruce Karnick