The Hawks dropped two games against a powerhouse team from Centennial and one of the potential playoff teams in Wisconsin, the Hudson River Rats. On June 5, the Hawks fell 12-2 in seven innings and against the River Rats 12-4.
The Centennial Cougars were a site to watch. Every player on their roster is between 21-26 years of age and they are fast. The Hawks have a fast outfield in their own right, and the Cougars gave them a run for their money robbing hit after hit from the Hawks. Routine singles turned into doubles for centennial and the Hawks did not have an answer.
Hastings had the lead after the first inning after newcomer Drew Jenkins was hit by pitch to get on base and Mitch Iliff moved him to second with a single to right before Jordan Jeske singled up the middle to score Jenkins. The cougars tied it up in the second and then broke the flood gates open with five in the third and three in the fourth. Hastings scored one more in the bottom of the sixth thanks to an Iliff single followed by a single from Noah Paulseth and an RBI single from Jason Greeder. That was all the offense could muster and the game ended 12-2.
Brendan Krueger had the start on the mound going three innings with two walks and five earned runs. Gavin Odman took over in the fourth logging one strikeout with two earned runs. Five of the runs were unearned due to three Hawks errors.
The game against the River Rats was nearly a mirror image of the above game with Hastings facing a ten-run loss, they managed to score two runs to play a full nine innings. The box score data was not available at the time of writing and the Hawks fell 12-4.
The exhibition games that the Hawks play are typically against some very strong opponents, done intentionally to give the guys extra live baseball to prep for the big league games like the one coming up Wednesday against the Miesville Mudhens.
The Hens are coming to town for Fan Appreciation Night where Balanced Wealth Management will be sponsoring the giveaways of bottles of water and hot dogs to the first 240 fans. The Snow Kone Factory will also be in attendance for fans to buy delicious, local snow cones. The game is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12, at 7:30 p.m. and the above-mentioned additions to the concessions area will be ready around 7:00.
Hastings then travels to Ellsworth to take on the Hubbers on June 14 at 7:30 p.m. and then to Dundas on June 16 to play the second game against the Dukes at 2:00 p.m.