Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Rated Falcons roll past Hawks in season opener
Sam Heyn follows through after connecting for one of his two hits in H-M-S's season-opener against West Sioux.
Keaton Graves stretches to catch the throw in an attempt to retire a West Sioux runner at third base.
Pitching and defense took center stage in Harris-Lake Park’s 2-0 win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in War Eagle Conference baseball action June 17 at Lake Park.
H-LP pitcher Isaac Ihnen did not allow a hit in 6-2/3 innings while striking out 16 Hawk batters. Julian Burdorf recorded the final out to preserve the win.
Hawk pitcher Jordan Ortega also pitched well, allowing just four hits and one walk. He struck out three and only one of H-LP’s runs was earned.
The Wolves advanced runners to third base in the first two innings, but the Hawks were able to get out of both jams without allowing a run. They weren’t able to keep the Wolves off the scoreboard in the fourth inning. An error and a single put runners at second and third, and another single drove in both to give H-LP the winning margin.
H-M-S’s best scoring threat came in the seventh inning when Dawson Schiphoff and Ben Haack walked. But they were stranded when a groundout ended the game.
Another missed opportunity occurred in the first inning when Sam Heyn walked and advanced to third base before a strikeout ended the threat.
• vs. West Sioux
H-M-S opened the 2020 baseball season against West Sioux, one of the top-rated teams in Class 2A teams. Multiple runs in three innings propelled the Falcons to a 22-3 win on June 15 in Hartley.
West Sioux took advantage of walks, hit batters and two hits in the first inning to take a 7-0 lead. A similar situation in the third inning led to six Falcon runs. They had eight hits in the fourth inning which led to the final nine runs.
H-M-S could not take advantage of scoring threats in the first two innings, but scored twice in the third on a single by Samuel Haack and a sacrifice fly by Ben Haack. Sam Heyn drove in the Hawks’ final run with a fourth-inning double.
The Hawks collected six hits in the game, including two by Heyn.
Starting pitcher Samuel Haack was charged with the loss. He allowed 10 runs, walked four and struck out three. Ben Haack allowed eight hits and 11 runs while Dawson Schiphoff gave up two hits and a run.
H-M-S (0-2, 0-2) has added a non-conference JV/varsity date with South O’Brien on June 25. The Hawks are also scheduled to host Akron-Westfield on June 26 and South O’Brien on June 29, and to play at George-Little Rock on June 30 and Hinton on July 1.
