The Hillsboro Hawks Freshman Baseball team went into the week with a 5-2 record, with their last win being a 9-8 nail-bitter against St. Pius. They get through last week recording two more wins over Northwest and Farmington, with a tough loss to Union to go 2-1 over the seven-day stretch.
The Freshman Hawks took the field against Northwest Tuesday April 13th and cruised to an 11-1 victory over the Lions. Gavin Hite put the Hawks on the board when he tripled on a 2-2 count with two outs, scoring Dominic Sutton. With Hite at third, Max Deranja would bring in Hite with a single to right. Hillsboro would end the inning with a 2-0 lead.
The Hawks went off in the bottom of the third inning. Another two-out triple would get the scoring started, and this time it would be Dane Dickemann cracking a line-drive triple past the third baseman to bring Sutton and Deranja across home plate. Caleb Quigley then singled on a line-drive scoring Dickemann from third. Richard Wiethop wasn’t ready to for the inning to be over yet, facing a 3-2 count with two outs, he triples on a line-drive ripped into left, scoring Quigley all the way from first. The Hawks ended the inning with a commanding 6-0 lead.
With more timely hitting from Deranja and Hite in the fourth and fifth innings, the Hawks would shutout the Lions 11-0. Hite finished the day going 3-4 at the plate with two RBI while Deranja went 3-3 with three RBI.
Hillsboro continued their dominate play facing Farmington the following day, with a 4-0 shutout. Hite got the Hawks on the board early in the bottom of the first inning with a ground ball single to the left that scored Wiethrop. Jack Prince would keep the inning going with a fly ball to left, scoring Sutton and giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead.
The Hawks notched two more run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Hillsboro took advantage of the Knights fielding errors with their baserunning skills. After reaching second on a Farmington error, Wiethop stole third as Cohen Linderer battled at the plate. With a 3-1 count on Linderer, the Hawks made the call and Wiethop darted 90 feet, stealing home to give Hillsboro a 3-0 advantage. The Knights walked Linderer, who proceed to steal second to get into scoring position. Sutton flew out to the left fielder to bring in Linderer and extend their lead to 4-0.
Sutton was magnificent on the mound, allowing one hit with no runs or walks and striking out 11 over five innings. Hite went 2-3 from the plate with an RBI.
With an off-day Thursday, the young Hawks took the field Friday at Union in an attempt to go undefeated on the week. It was a neck-and-neck game the that came down to the final play of the game with the two teams tied at 11 runs apiece. The Hawks out hit Union, but couldn’t come away with the win falling 12-11.
Sutton got the Hawks on the board in the first with a sac fly, scoring Linderer from third after he stole second and advanced to third on an error by Union. It was the only run of the inning, but wouldn’t be their last. In the bottom of the first Union was able to get a man across home plate after an infield error by the Hawks. Things were tied up going into the second inning.
With a double off the bat of Dickemann in the top of the second, Hillsboro scored Deranja and Logan Johnston, putting the Hawks up 3-1. Hite pitched a scoreless second inning, bring the heart of the order up to start the third inning. Hillsboro added another run in the top of the third after Sutton smacked a single into right field, that scored Linderer. Union put one more on the board in the bottom of the third, but Hillsboro remained in the driver seat with a 4-2 lead.
Union took control in the bottom of the fourth though, adding three runs to take a -4 lead, but the Hawks wouldn’t be silenced. After Union walked the first two batters and Prince smacked a ball to left field to load the bases. Johnston stepped to the plate and tied things up in the top of the fifth with a fly ball that scored Sutton and advanced Hite to third. Then another walk for Dickemann brought Hite across home plate with Prince and Johnston advancing. Hillsboro tacked on another run with a Wiethop single, scoring Dickemann, to take the lead 7-5.
The Hawks lead would be short-lived though as Union’s bats got hot in the bottom of the fifth, bringing in four runs to take 9-7 lead. Down by two runs in the top of the sixth, the Freshman Hawks weren’t done yet, with a Deranja double scoring Sutton from second, and a crushed line-drive single by Prince tied the game 9-9. Hillsboro brought in Aidan Black to pinch run for Deranja at third, Black’s speed was clutch for the Hawks, as he scored stealing home. Prince stole 3rd on the next pitch then trotted across home after stealing another 90 feet, giving Hillsboro a 11-9 lead.
Yet, it was the last inning that spelled doom for the Hawks, as Union had clutch and timely hitting in the bottom of the sixth pulling out the win over Hillsboro 12-11.
Prince led the way with three hits and Dickemann tallied three RBI. Hite tossed four innings, with four strikeouts, recording a 2.00 WHIP.
The Freshman Hawks will face Chaminade Tuesday, April 20th in their next outing.
