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The Hastings Hawks travelled to Dundas to take on the Dukes on Sunday after a big win in Miesville last week they were sitting at 2-3 on the season and 1-2 in the Classic Cannon Valley League. Could they move to 2-2 in the CCVL by winning in Dundas?

Will Lavin, the winning pitcher in Miesville, started on the bump for the Hawks. Lavin gave up three runs in the bottom of the first and three more in the bottom of the fourth before being replaced by Douglas Nordine in the fifth. Nordine only gave up one in the sixth in another excellent relief appearance.

Lavin Struck out one, walked three and gave up five earned runs. Nordine struck out one, walked two and gave up one earned run.

Offensively, the Hawks could not get moving against the Dukes. Nic Zabel started for Dundas and pitched five innings allowing two Hawks runs, but only one was earned. Zabel fanned five Hawks batters and gave up only one free base. Isaac Flynn and Jordan Jeske were both 2 for 4 at the plate for Hastings with Jeske notching one of the RBIs for Hastings. Cory Wolters ended up with the other RBI on the night.

The loss set the Hawks back to 2-4 on the season and more importantly 1-3 in the CCVL.

The guys in green and gold were not done yet, hosting the Rochester Royals at Veterans Park on Memorial Day for a 2:00 matinee game honoring our fallen soldiers.

Memorial Day was a great day for Class C baseball teams in the CCVL. The Cannon Falls Bears (Class C) took down the Hampton Cardinals (Class B) 4-3 in Hampton. The Red Wing Aces (Class C) gave the Class B Miesville Mudhens another loss against a Class C team, 3-1, and the Hastings Hawks (Class C) beat the Rochester Royals (Class B), 5-4!

The Hawks started the crafty lefty, Jordan Jeske on the mound. Jeske had solid control of his curveball most of the game, keeping the Royals batters baffled. Jeske tossed 102 pitches, 64 strikes, 38 balls. He fanned nine of the 28 batters he faced allowing one earned run and walked only one.

Dennis Reinhart earned the save. In his two innings, the former Wisconsin All-Star struck out three on 38 total pitches, and allowed two earned runs to help Hastings earn the W.

Hastings must have sacrificed a chicken to Jobu after the Dundas game because the bats were very lively against Rochester. Many well hit balls were put in play, eight hits may seem like only a few on the scoreboard, but the Royals made a lot of good defensive plays to keep that number low. Jason Greeder, Isaac Flynn and Cory Wolters were once again rock solid on the dish, all hitting .500., Noah Paulseth and Nick Horsch each went 1 for 3 for .333 with Paulseth getting an RBI in the scorebook and Jeske was 1 for 4 with two RBI. Ben Bundschu crushed a sacrifice fly to left center for an RBI, so while technically going 0 for 4 at the plate, he did his job well.

Defensively, Hastings cleaned up the fielding errors only committing one this game, an errant throw from Flynn on an attempted double play. The win moved the Hawks to 3-4 overall on the season, 2-3 in league play and 1-0 against section teams.

This week starts the busy season for the Hawks, but they are happy to have more than 10 games this season. It was rough in 2020 with the COVID restrictions. The Eagan Bandits come to Hastings on Wednesday the second for a 7:30 game, then Hastings has an away/home pair of league games against Cannon Falls. First travelling to Cannon Falls on Friday, June Fourth for a 7:30 game against the Bears. The Bears come up for a Sunday matinee on June Sixth at 2:00 at Veterans Park. Hastings has two more league games next week, first travelling to Sechler Park in Northfield to take on the Knights at 7:30, Wednesday the Ninth and then Sunday, June 13 for a 2:00 game in Lake City.

With the Hawks on the road and summer finally here, Veterans Park schedule really ramps up as well. HYAA, The Legion and The VFW teams all host games at Vets and we need help. If you are interested in volunteering because you love baseball, people or being outside, drop me an email, [email protected] hastingshawks.com. We could always use help in concessions, but you must be 15+, able to give correct change and have parent permission if under 18. We would also love to get help with the presentation of the game, someone running the scoreboard or announcing. We will train you and sign a letter for any club requiring volunteer hours, plus it is a nice resume builder!