This past weekend the Hawks headed into the first important test of their Classic Cannon Valley League schedule with two road games against Class C rivals Red Wing and Cannon Falls.  These games held major importance, as they would help determine the seeding for the regional playoffs in August, granting the top two teams a bye and allowing them to bypass an entire weekend of play-in games.  First up was the Red Wing Aces on Friday night.  The Aces advanced to the third round of the Class C state tournament last year, so it was a great measuring stick game for the Hawks.  The top of the first started off promisingly enough, with the Hawks loading the bases with nobody out against Red Wing pitcher Ben Kuehni. He managed to wiggle out of the jam with no runs allowed, a missed opportunity that would be emblematic of the Hawks’ entire night.  The Hawks threatened again with two hits in the second inning, and finally broke through in the third.  After an error, a hit and a walk, Blake Warner singled through the right side to score Jackson Schaffer and make the score 1-0.  Unfortunately, that’s all the offense the Hawks were able to muster on the evening.  Kuehni allowed only two more walks over the next three innings with neither runner advancing, and Red Wing relief pitcher Aaron Johnson came in to slam the door with a nine out save, retiring all nine batters in order.  

On the other side, the Hawks handed things off to their ace Jordan Jeske, and he was up to the challenge all evening long.  He allowed baserunners in the first four innings but managed to keep the Aces at bay each time, but then things went sideways in the fifth.  The Hawks committed four errors in that inning, one by Flynn at third, two by Warner at first and an outfield throwing error to give the Aces a 2-1 lead, and after Jeske allowed a double and a sac fly, Red Wing had four unearned runs on the board.  That was the end of the scoring, as the Aces headed home with a 4-1 victory.

The Hawks had a day to regroup before heading down to Cannon Falls on Sunday to take on the Bears and their veteran lefty Keith Meyers, pitching in his remarkable 27^th season as a Bear. He’s also been kryptonite to the young Hawks lineup over the last several seasons, so they came in looking to make a statement and they did so early. After the first two Hawks batters bounced out to lead off the game, Jackson Schaffer beat out a grounder to deep short, and then Jackson Tessman hit a ball to shallow center field.  Bears center fielder Jayden Burr made a valiant diving attempt for the ball, but it bounced past him, allowing Schaffer to score from first and give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. Hawks number two pitcher Tommy Ritt allowed a lot of base runners in the early going, but managed to leave the bases loaded in the first, get a double play to get him out of the second, and escaped a bases loaded no out jam in the third when third baseman Cole Benson started a nifty double play, taking a grounder right on top of the bag, stepping on third, and then firing to catcher Jake Sandquist to lay down the tag at home for the rarely seen 5-2 double play.  Ritt induced yet another double play to get out of the fourth before the Hawks offense got going again.  After the nine hitter Jason Greeder led off the inning with a single and Isaac Flynn got aboard on a Bears error, newcomer Jack Nelson continued the hot start to his Hawks career by launching a deep three-run home run to right field to give the Hawks a 4-0 advantage.  After Ritt put up another zero, the Hawks went back to work against reliever Nick Drinken in the sixth.  They put up five more runs including run scoring hits from Greeder, Warner and Schaffer, and took advantage of a handful of uncharacteristic Bears errors to put the game on the shelf.  The Hawks added two more in the seventh and Tommy Ritt came within two outs of a complete game shutout as Cannon scratched across a run in the bottom of the seventh, as the game was called for the 10-run rule, 11-1 in seven innings.  All kinds of good for the Hawks offense in this one, as they pounded out 14 hits to get things rolling after Friday’s offensive struggles.  Blake Warner and Jackson Tessman had three hits on the evening, while Jason Greeder and Jackson Schaffer chipped in with two hits and two runs scored apiece. 

Next up for the Hawks (for those of you who get the paper on Wednesday) will be the always entertaining matchup with the Meisville Mudhens, as they head to Vet’s Park Wed, June 14 at 7:30 p.m.   But for those of you who see this later, remember that we’re just getting started out at Vets!  The Hawks have at least 12 more home dates coming up, including eight in the month of July.  You can always check out Hastingshawks.com or follow their Facebook and Twitter pages to get constant updates on the team and upcoming schedule.