By Derek Simon

On Wednesday July 29th, the Hastings Hawks travelled to Tink Larson _eld in Waseca Minnesota to take

on the Waseca Braves. The Braves were seeded fourth in the eight team prelim tournament, while the Hawks were

seeded _fth. I spoke with Tink Larson before the game,

delightful man who was very accommodating to us and to the HCTV crew that was there with us. Tink informed me that the Braves would be without their starting shortstop and catcher who usually bat _rst and third in their

lineup. The Hawks would be without their top pitcher

Will Lavin and out_elder Drew Davis.

The Braves would start with their top pitcher, crafty lefty, Kelvin Nelson. Nelson was not overpowering on the mound, but Blake Warner told me after the game that all his pitches moved. Blake also said “It was dif_cult to

get used to his arm slot. He was locating well, changing speeds, and had us off balance early.” The Hawks were at a disadvantage as they were missing their top starter, so they turned to veteran Hawk, Dennis Reinhardt, to make this big start. This would be Denny’s third appearance this season for the Hawks and his _rst start. Dennis also pitches

for the Hudson River Rats, so he has gotten in the majority of his innings for them.

Both pitchers would dominate the early part of the game as the score remained 0-0 into the bottom of the _fth inning.

Waseca then would strike for four big runs in the bottom of

the _fth. The Braves hit to big doubles in the inning to score the _rst run. Reinhardt would say after the game, “The _rst

double was off a change up that I left high, on the second double the batter was waiting for a change. I should have gone away from it earlier, but it was working well early in the game.” Dennis would pitch a scoreless sixth inning and then turn the game over to Ben Bundschu who would pitch scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth innings.

The Hawks offense again would struggle. Jake Biermaier drover in Cory Wolters in the seventh inning with a ground out to second base. Blake Warner singled in the eight inning to drive in pinch runner Zack Jorgenson.

The Hawks would leave 11 runners on base, including 7 in scoring position. The guys just couldn’t get the big hit to drive in runs. Warner’s eighth inning hit was the only hit of the game for the Hawks with a runner in scoring position. The Braves left 7 on base, but the big _fth

inning won them the game.

With the loss, the Hawks will need to _nd a way to

win three games in the losers bracket to advance to next

week’s regional playoff. The _rst game is Saturday at

4:00, in Cannon Falls versus Pine Island.

Three Stars: 1. BenBundschu:Twoscorelessinningspitched 2. Isaac Flynn: 2-4 3. Blake Warner: 1-4 RBI and stolen base.