The Hastings Hawks had three games last week, first they had their fan appreciation night against the Miesville Mudhens on Wednesday. Former Hawk Jake Biermaier of Balanced Wealth Management arranged free hot dogs to the first 240 fans, and the Snow Kone Factory from Hastings were on hand to help celebrate that night even though the game ended in an 8-3 loss for Hastings. The boys then made a road trip to Ellsworth to take on the Hubbers in a 7-3 win on Friday night. The final game was a trip to Dundas to face the Dukes where they won 3-2.
Against Miesville, the game started with a big shot from Mitch Iliff. Conversations had been taking place around the team that home runs at Veterans Park are generally rare with the fence depth and the make up of the field. Fly balls tend to not carry as well in the deep outfield as other parks in the region limiting the home runs, especially the home runs to straightaway center field, and Iliff decided to prove people wrong.
The fifth pitch Iliff faced was gone, a solo homerun right over the 393-distance marker in center field, a shot that missed the middle of the flagpole by maybe a foot.
Current 35+ baseball player and former Mudhen Nate Otto was in the batting cages behind right field with two other Hurricane’s players when the home run was hit.
“We heard the crack of the bat and turned to watch the ball go into the woods,” Otto said. “You just knew by the sound that it was gone.”
The home run gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead over Miesville and it excited fans who rarely get to see the long ball at Vets.
In the top of the second, Miesville’s Brock Rinehart decided to give the fans some more fireworks in his first at bat. With a runner on first and no outs, Rinehart hit a two-run home run into the side of the batting cages to give the Mudhens the lead and by the time the second inning was over, the Hens were up 3-1.
In the third inning, Iliff walked to get one runner on, then Jackson Tessman walked for the second runner. Noah Paulseth was hit by the pitch to load up the bases for Hawk newcomer Johnny Teigland. Johnny joins his older brother Ben wearing the Hawks colors and in his second game as a Hawk, he hit a two RBI single to right to tie the game at three before the side retired in the third.
From that point forward, it was all Miesville. The Hens scored three in the fifth and one each in the seventh and eighth to win 8-3.
Hastings played well but Miesville was able to turn singles into doubles with their speed and they strung key hits together better than Hastings did. The Mudhens games are always ones that are circled on the calendar due to the rivalry and neither team likes to lose to the other, but for a loss, this one was much easier for the Hawks to swallow. They played really well against a good team; Hastings committed no errors and they felt that they could come back at any moment for nearly the entire game.
Ben Teigland started on the mound, and it was neat for fans and the team to see him pitching to his brother at the catcher’s position. Now they just need to get their dad Pete to sign up for a game for a truly townball unique event. Pete is a retired Hawk, so it is not as big of a stretch as it may seem.
On the mound, Ben went for four and a third innings, striking out three and allowing six earned runs. Jordan Jeske allowed the other two runs in three and two-thirds innings while striking out three. Dennis Reinhart finished the game for the Hawks striking out two of the four batters he faced in one inning of work.
Hastings then took the detour-filled trip to Ellsworth to take on the Hubbers on Friday night. Ben Bundschu earned the win in that game for Hastings going five innings, scattering five hits, allowing two runs, walking one, while striking out five. Brendan Kruger pitched three in relief, working around some control issues to allow only one run across. Kruger gave up one hit, while walking five and striking out six. Nick Horsch finished off the last scoreless inning.
On offense, Drew Jenkins got it going in the fourth with his first Hawks homer, a two-run shot to left. Hastings tacked on one in the fifth with Cory Wolters driving in Jackson Tessman. They added two more in the sixth by taking advantage of a couple walks with Dennis Reinhart knocking in Paulseth, and Jenkins scoring on a wild pitch. They then used four more walks and a Jeske double to pick up two more in the top of the ninth for the final 7-3 tally.
Sunday the boys had a huge win over the Dundas Dukes, 3-2. The big story was Ben Teigland, who went eight and two-thirds innings scattering seven hits and two runs, striking out eight and walking none. Hawks manager Shawn Matson tried to give him a chance to finish it off, after getting the first two outs which included a slick play at short stop by Jason Greeder for out number two. Ben allowed a single just past Paulseth’s outstretched glove at first and hit the next batter with the first pitch forcing Matson to summon Horsch who got the next batter to ground to third for the save.
All the Hawks scoring came in the fourth inning. Jake Sandquist singled with one out, Jenkins walked, Paulseth was hit by a pitch. Then Evan Khrin got hit by a pitch to drive in a run, Jeske bounced to first to drive in another, and a wild pitch one batter later allowed the third run to come in, and that's all Ben would need to log the win.
The Miesville and Dundas games are both part of the Classic Cannon Valley League schedule even though they are both Class B teams and the Hawks are Class C. Hastings earned the sweep over the Dukes and have a rematch with Miesville on Sunday, July 7 at 2:00 p.m.
The boys were scheduled to take on Cannon Falls at home on June 19th and that was the last game they were able to play for the week. Both of the games against Red Wing and Faribault were postponed due to the massive amounts of rain that came in over the early weekend.
Hawks versus Bears is always an interesting game. Both teams do a good job of turning a couple singles into runs and this matchup always seems to be a close game.
Hastings took the early lead in the bottom of the first. Jordy Horsch hit a single, Jackson Schaffer returned to the lineup and also hit a single. Jack Seleski was walked, and the bases were loaded with two outs for Noah Paulseth. Paulseth was hit by the pitch for an RBI and the early Hawks lead.
That was all the offense the Hawks could muster off Riley Miller who allowed only two hits the entire game while striking out eight and walking five in the Bears complete game win.
Cannon Falls tied the game in the third then took the lead in the fifth to go up 2-1. They tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh to win 4-1.
Hastings Offense was baffled by Miller all night and the Hastings pitching was almost as effective. Jordan Jeske had the start and the loss giving up all four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Brendan Kruger took over for Jeske in the eighth striking out three walking one and allowing only one hit.
The Hawks had over a week off with the weather cancellations and they play next on Saturday, June 29 at home against baseball 365. There is a mini baseball day Hastings at Vets Park. Hawks play at 1:00 p.m. and the VFW play right after the Hawks around 4:30 p.m. Followed by the Legion team playing around 7:30 p.m. The boys then have the holiday week off returning to play on July 7, 2:00 p.m. at Miesville.