The Raiders entered the week at 0-1 with a trip to North St. Paul on Wed. and then Two Rivers on Fri. After a 13-3 thumping at the bats of Park of Cottage Grove, Hastings took the chip on their shoulder to North St. Paul to thump the Polars 11-0. The Raider bats stayed active at Two Rivers, but Hastings fell short, losing 5-4.
Against North St. Paul, Carter Lundstrom logged his first start, pitching three innings and allowing only five hits with no runs. Lundstrom faced 14 batters, striking out four and walking two in three scoreless innings. Creed Peterson finished the game with two innings pitched. Peterson also struck out four batters and walked two.
Offensively, Evan Nelson was the big dog going 4-for-4 and knocking in five runs for Hastings with a single, double, and a home run. Sawyer Tjomsland knocked in two runs with his only hit. Connor Zgoda and Mark Denoyer each had an RBI, Zgoda’s coming off a single and Denoyer hitting a solo home run. Two runs were scored on errors.
The next road trip took the Raiders to Mendota Heights to face the Warriors. Hastings took the lead in the top of the third. Blake Vandehoef reached first on an error by the Warrior shortstop. Chuck Wagner walked to give Hastings two men on base. Cade Kimmes hit a line drive to right center scoring Vandehoef. Alex Hendrickson hit a grounder to the same spot as Kimmes scoring Wagner, and Nelson knocked Kimmes in with a grounder to left. This gave Hastings the 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third.
Jack Seleski had the start on the mound for Hastings and he pitched three scoreless innings. For some strange reason, the fourth inning in two of the three games this season has been the bane of Raider pitchers. Seleski had baffled the Warriors for the first three innings but the second time through the line-up, the Raiders were tripping over themselves.
Two Rivers had not been hitting the ball at all until the bottom of the fourth. The first two batters Seleski faced were hit by pitch to reach base, Seleski hit a total of three batters this game. Both hit batters eventually scored in the four-run fourth. Two Rivers tacked one on in the fifth when Denoyer relieved Seleski, giving the Warriors a 2-run lead.
The game stayed 5-3 in favor of Two Rivers until the top of the seventh when Evan Nelson hit a solo home run to bring the game within one. That is where the game ended, 5-4 Two Rivers.
Seleski faced 19 batters striking out four and walking none, but he did hit three batters. Denoyer faced seven batters striking out none and walking none.
Offensively, Nelson and Vandehoef both hit 2-for-4 to lead the Raiders. Nelson had a home run and drove in an additional run for two RBIs. Hendrickson and Kimmes each had an RBI as well.
Hastings has a busy week with a trip to Simley on Apr. 17 and then hosting Tartan on Apr. 19, both games are scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Mon. the boys will travel to Mahtomedi before hosting St. Thomas Academy on Wed. next week.
