The Rochester Royals and Lake City Serpents fell victim to the Hawks offense last week with Hastings putting up double digit runs in both games. Rochester was last year’s Class B state champion and Hastings completed the regular season sweep with a 12-6 win on June 28. Lake City, a league opponent in Class C then came to town on June 30 and fell 11-2.

Against the Royals, Hastings took a huge 6-0 lead in the second inning which included batting around the order. Rookie Mitch Iliff walked to start the inning and Cole Benson hit into a double play to give Hastings two quick outs. Then Jake Sandquist was hit by the pitch, Jordan Jeske hit a single to right and Cory Wolters followed that up with a double scoring Sandquist and moving Jeske to third. Jack Nelson hit a single to right, scoring Jeske and moving Wolters to third and then on the next play, Nelson stole second.

Jackson Schaeffer doubled scoring Nelson then Blake Warner hit a triple to deep right center scoring Schaeffer. Jackson Tessman hit a single to left scoring Warner, completing the first journey through the order and furthering the lead, 6-0. Iliff, who led off with a walk, struck out retiring the side. As Iliff was returning to the dugout, Benson jokingly told him thank you.

“I was worried about getting all three outs in the inning after hitting into that double play at the beginning of the run,” laughed Benson. “So, when Mitch struck out, I was like ‘thank God, I won’t have all three outs in one inning’”.

Benson has been making good contact with the ball, but he just seems to have no luck on his side at the plate, frequently hitting right to a defensive player. He’s doing a great job taking it in stride, knowing things will change eventually. His teammates will still give him a hard time for it, which is one of the most notable differences this season. The guys are relaxed and having a great time together on and off the field.

The scoring settled down until the top of the fourth when Rochester logged their first run of the game. They snuck another one over the plate in the top of the sixth to make it 6-2 but Hastings responded in the bottom of the sixth scoring five more runs.

The bottom of the sixth started with Benson walking. Sandquist hit a soft grounder back to the pitcher for the first Hawks out while advancing Benson to second. Jeske crushed a single to left center scoring Benson then Wolters singled to right. Nelson also singled to right advancing Wolters to third and scoring Jeske. Schaeffer walked after Nelson stole second and the bases were loaded for Warner who walked, scoring Wolters. A passed ball to Tessman at the plate scored Schaeffer which brought up Iliff. Iliff walked and Benson hit into his second double play of the game, retiring the side. The Hawks were now up 11-2.

Later in the game, Sandquist walked and was driven in by Nelson for his fourth RBI of the game. Ben Teigland pitched a solid six innings allowing only two runs. Connor Stoffel relieved Teigland and Rochester found a way to wake up their bats for four runs off Stoffel before Dennis Reinhart closed the game down.

Six of the nine Hawks batters all hit .500 or better, amassing 12 runs on 13 hits. The other three batters did not get a hit, but they combined for five walks, one hit by pitch and three of the runs scored.

On the mound, Teigland earned the win going six innings allowing two earned runs with two strikeouts and only three walks on 99 pitches. Stoffel went 1.67 innings allowing three earned runs and one unearned with no strikeouts or walks. Reinhart struck out three, walked one and allowed no runs in his 1.33 innings pitched.

The 12-6 win over last year’s Class B state champs was a nice feather in the cap for the Hawks. It also sends a message to the rest of the league that this team is for real. Baseball is such a mental game that putting a little fear in your opponents by hanging with and beating teams that technically should beat you easily messes with the opponents that you really need to beat for playoff seeding. It also boosts your own confidence heading into those games.

Hastings took the evening to celebrate the win and then got back to business on Friday against Lake City. The Serpents came into the game in third place of the four Class C teams, they left in fourth place despite scoring the first run of the game in the top of the first.

Wolters led the offense for the night going 2-for-3 with two RBIs, a walk and one hit by pitch. His first hit kick started the offence in the bottom of the first when he drove the second pitch of the game into left field. In the first inning, seven Hawks scored on six singles. Every batter that reached base was either walked or hit a single. The first three batters hit twice in the inning and Hastings was quickly up 7-1.

Admittedly, the game progressed very oddly. The Serpents starting pitcher, Josh Fletcher, threw 53 pitches in the first inning to Tommy Ritt’s 19. Ritt tossed 18 in the second inning, but Fletcher only threw six, a stark contrast to the first inning. In the third, Ritt duplicated the single digit pitch count and Fletcher only threw 10 that inning for a total of 69 pitches before he was replaced by Lake City’s ace Ryan Wolfe.

Scoring slowed significantly as well with Hastings adding one in the bottom of the fourth to go up 8-1. Lake City added one in the sixth to make it 8-2 and then Hastings tried to end it early but fell short, scoring three in the bottom of the eighth to make it 11-2.

Ritt earned the win, going eight solid innings allowing only two runs with five strikeouts and three walks on 105 pitches. Brendan Kruger closed the game in the ninth, sitting the batters down one, two, three on seven pitches.

Offensively, eight of the nine Hawks batters had at least one hit in the game, and everyone scored a run to keep the four-game double digit scoring streak alive. Hastings has outscored their opponents 43-22 in the last four games, including the 11-10 loss to Dundas. The three-game win streak has helped lift the team into first place among Class C teams at 3-1 with home games yet to be played against Cannon Falls and Red Wing.

With the 3-1 record, Hastings is in control of their own destiny regarding playoff seeding. If they win the next two Class C CCVL games, they will earn the first seed for the second week of playoffs and skip the entire play in bracket for the first week of playoffs. Each of the last two years, the team has finished third which forced them into the first week of playoffs where they fell one game short of reaching the second week of playoffs.

The long fourth of July weekend is the last long-term break before the final stretch of games, most of which are at home for July. That long home stand starts on July 5 at 7:30 p.m. against the Hudson River Rats. Then Centennial comes to town on July 7, also at 7:30 p.m.

The big one for this week is July 9, a 2:00 p.m. matinee against the Red Wing Aces. This game is likely going to be the game that decides first place in the league. Red Wing won the first contest 4-1 and the Hawks felt like they should have won that game, so they will be coming out ready to go. Red Wing travels well and brings a good group of fans with them, so mark your calendars now to go to Vets and cheer on the Hawks to victory.