By Derek Simon

The Hawks travelled down to Red Wing Sunday, for their

elimination game against Lake City. The winner of this game would play in the third place game against Winona. Winona

_nished last in the Twin Rivers conference this season and after losing Wednesday to Lake City 6-2, they had shockingly won

two elimination games. The winner of the Lake City vs Hastings game would be big favorites to beat Winona and earn the last spot into the regional playoffs next week.

Last season, the Hawks won both match ups in the regular season against the Serpents , but then Lake City swept the Hawks

out of the playoffs. This year, the teams had split in the regular

season, the Hawks winning the _rst game 8-4, while Lake City would mercy rule Hastings 12-2 in seven innings in the second

match up. This year the playoff format was different, but the result was the same as Lake City would down Hastings 6-0.

The Serpents were able to turn to their ace Ryan Wolfe.

Wolfe pitched on Wednesday, a complete game victory over Winona. With Will Lavin unable to pitch Wednesday, and pitching

Saturday, the Hawks turned to Ben Bundschu who had pitched

a couple scoreless innings on Wednesday in the Hawks loss at Waseca.

Both teams would go down quietly in the _rst inning. In

the top of the second inning, Blake Warner would single. Joey

Muerer then would get a bunt single moving Warner to second

base. He runners would get as far as second and third base, but Hawks could not get a big hit to drive them in. To add insult to injury, Lake City would get to Bundschu in the second inning. A couple double’s highlighted a three run inning and putting Lake City in control of the game.

Just as last season, Wolfe would sti_e the Hawks batters in

the all important elimination game. The Hawks were able to battle and drive up Wolfe’s pitch count, but were unable to mount

a serious challenge until the _fth inning. Warner again singled

in his best game of the season at the dish. Pinch Hitter and the

Hawks main power threat, Adam Medlicott then hit a booming

double to put runners on second and third. However, the Hawks again could not get the big hit and still trailed 3-0 going to the

bottom of the _fth.

Like the second inning when the Hawks couldn’t score and Lake City used the momentum to score three big runs, they

would add one more run in the bottom of the _fth to take a 4-0

lead and end Bunschu’s day. Ben threw the ball over the plate

all day and gave the team a chance, but the Serpents were able to

bang out several hits mostly on off speed pitches. Nick Horsch

would come into the ball game to pitch the _nal three innings. The Serpents would score two more runs in the seventh inning

to round out the scoring.

The Hawks would be shutout for the _rst and only time of the season. Seven hits for the Hawks on the day. Blake Warner

paced the offense with three hits to go with two hits from Jake

Dale. Pinch hitter Adam Medlicott added a double, and Joey Muerer had a bunt hit. The rest of the offense was unable to

break threw against Wolfe. While the Hawks offense sputtered,

the Serpents pounded out fourteen hits on Hawks pitchers.

After the _nal game is the worst part of the season for me. Many of these guys I’ve known since they were young kids, others I’ve known since I’ve joined the board four seasons ago.

Knowing full well, that many of the guys will be leaving for college in a few weeks and others going back to their normal lives, the majority of the team stayed for a few hours hanging out to relive some more stories and talk about the offseason. As we left the ball park, Lake City was winning over Winona 9-0 in the sixth inning and had already put in several reserves. If only the Hawks had gotten two big hits in the second and _fth innings,

this may have been us. But that’s baseball.

I hope to keep you all updated on our hawks players who will be back to school. I hope they are able to have a normal spring season and that I can update you all on their seasons. It’s been a fun season to report and write about. We didn’t get the victories we had hoped _nishing 3-8 on the season. In fact the winning

percentage was the same as last year when were 6-16, but we again got younger and more talented. The wins will come as the team gets older and gels. No other CCVL team has 7 regulars who are 22 years old or younger. We also have two of our top pitchers who are just 19 and 20 years old. Winning in townball and especially in our conference takes talent and experience.

Expecting 20 year old’s to beat teams with much more experience and age is dif_cult, but this will all pay off in the near future

because this group is talented enough to be a state tournament regular in the future.

One last time, our three stars are: 1. Blake Warner: 3-4 turned two double plays. 2. Jake Dale: 2-4 3. Adam Medlicott: 1-1 with a double

Bats come alive in victory over Pine Island!

The recurring theme this season for the Hawks has been a lack of offense overall, but especially in key situations with runners on base. In fact, the Hawks team batting average going into the game was .209! Saturday in Cannon Falls, the Hawks defeated the Pine Island Pioneers 12-7. The Hawks scored a season high twelve runs on a season high thirteen hits.

Hastings would strike for a run in the bottom of the _rst inning when rookie sensation Isaac Flynn would start off the inning with a base hit and then he would also steal second base. The stolen base was the third of the season for Flynn. With one out in the inning, Jake Dale would single to drive Flynn in giving the Hawks the lead.

In the second inning, the Hawks would break the game open with four more runs. Joey Muerer would lead off with a base hit, and like Flynn in the _rst inning, would steal second base. Jason Greeder would then strike out, but reach base on the wild pitch. After a strike out, Flynn would draw a walk to load the bases. Drew Davis then would also walk, driving in the second run for Hastings. Jake Dale would then keep the inning going with another RBI single, his second in as many innings. Pine Island would give the Hawks their third run of the game on a wild pitch. Cole Benson would end the scoring in the inning when he hit an RBI ground out to drive in Davis. Hawks would lead 5-0 after two innings.

In the bottom of the third inning, offense would strike again. With one out in the inning, Jason Greeder singled. Nick Horsch then followed with a bunt single. After another Isaac Flynn walk, the bases were loaded with one out. Drew Davis would then hit a sacri_ce _y to center _eld, scoring Greeder and giving the Hawks a 6-0 lead. After a Jake Dale walk, loading the

bases again, Cole Benson hit a double to deep right _eld, scoring Horsch and Flynn. The Hawks would lead 8-0 after three innings.

As the Hawks were enjoying their offensive success against Pioneer pitching, Hawks ace, Will Lavin was enjoying his time on the mound. The rookie had been nursing a sore arm and wasn’t available to pitch in the all important game one against Waseca, a win in Waseca would have meant the Hawks would need only one more win to advance, but he was dealing early against Pine Island. Lavin would retire the Pioneers in order in

the _rst and second innings. In the third inning he would allow

two walks, but would settle down again keeping the Pioneers scoreless.

Pine Island would _nally get their _rst hit of the game in the fourth inning, a double, and would later score on a sacri_ce _y.

With the score now 8-1, the Hawks would answer in the bottom

of the inning. With one out, Joey Muerer would single and again

steal second base. With two outs, Nick Horsch would drive him in with Nick’s second base hit of the day. The Hawks would lead 9-1 after four innings.

In the _fth inning, Pine Island started to solve Lavin. A

double and two singles would score two more runs, cutting the Hawks lead to 9-3. That would spell the end of the day for

Lavin, as Hawks manager Shawn Matson wanted to be careful with Will coming off of arm soreness. Lavin would _nish with _ve innings pitched giving up three earned runs on four hits. He also walked four and struck out seven!

Doug Nordine relieved Will in the sixth inning. After Nordine struck out the _rst two batters he faced, a pair of singles and

with a stolen base would plate a run for Pine Island, cutting the

lead to 9-4.

The Hawks would score their _nal runs of the day in the bottom of the sixth inning. Nick Horsch walked to start the inning.

After two straight _elder’s choices, Drew Davis was standing at _rst base with two outs. The inning would unravel for Pine

Island from there. Jake Dale was hit by a pitch. Cole Benson would reach on an error, loading the bases. Jordan Jeske then would also reach on an error, loading the bases and scoring Davis. Blake Warner then made the Pioneers pay with a base hit scoring two more important insurance runs. The Hawks lead 12-4 after six innings.

Nordine would give up a couple hits and a run in the seventh inning. With Hawks leading by seven runs, they again turned to Doug in the eight inning and he responded by setting the Pioneers down in order.

At this time the rain started to fall at a steady clip in Cannon Falls. The Hawks were unable to take advantage of it in the bottom of the eighth inning. In the top of the ninth inning, Nordine would get the _rst batter out. After a walk and single, he retire a second Pine Island batter on a _y out. Doug then would struggle with the weather and his control. He went to the back of the mound multiple times to clean his cleats and seemed to be slipping on his plant foot with each pitch. Three more walks would end his day, as two more runs scored cutting the lead to 12-7. Needing one out, with the bases still loaded, Matson turned to young Derek Marrier to earn his _rst save. In just two pitches Marrier got the pop out to SS. As the ball fell into Blake Warner’s glove, the Hawks could _nally exhale and enjoy the victory.

The Hawks advance to Sunday. They will face a familiar foe in the Lake City Serpents at 4:00pm Sunday, in another elimination game.

Three Stars: 1. Jake Dale: 3-4 run scored and two RBI. 2. Isaac Flynn: 2-4 three runs scored. 3. Joey Muerer: 2-4 two runs scored, two stolen bases.