West Burlington, IA-Late inning heroics not enough to push the Blackhawks into the win column.
Game 1 –
The Blackhawks played Pearl River CC out of Poplarville, Mississippi to open up their season. In the top of the first, the offense got moving quickly as Bryce Simon hit a double in his first plate appearance of the season and came around to score on a Kevin Gomez single with two outs.
Hayden Malenfant took the mound for the Blackhawks for his first collegiate start. Hayden was greeted quickly with a homerun from the first batter he faced of the game, tying the game at one a piece. The Wildcats pushed a couple more runs across making the score 3-1 after one.
Both offenses were quiet until the top of the fourth when the Blackhawks took the lead back once again with three runs on five hits starting with a Zeb Adreon double, then Kevin Gomez hit a double of his own making it 3-2. John Mead followed up with a single and Austin Martin did the same for an RBI. Jason Matthews then singled to pushed the score to 4-3 Southeastern.
The Blackhawks pushed two more across in the top of the fifth with a homerun from John Mead, making the score 6-3.
In the next two innings the Wildcats pushed across nine runs on eight hits. Malenfant was responsible for three of the nine and a fourth was scored as an unearned run. Justin Snow took over in the bottom of the sixth and was met with five runs on four hits, two of which were homeruns. Will Undershute relieved him and finished the game seeing seven hitters allowing none of them to reach base and recording two strikeouts.
Game 2 -
The Blackhawks played Elaine P. Nunez Community College out of New Orleans, Louisiana in game two of the double header.
Jacob Curry took the mound for the Blackhawks. Curry allowed a walk and a single in his first inning, only to leave those runners stranded on second and third by inducing a pop up and back to back strikeouts.
The strong start from Curry gave the Blackhawks momentum. Back to back singles to lead off the game led to a homerun from Zeb Adreon to give the Blackhawks a 3-0 lead early. The Blackhawks pushed three more across over the the rest of the first inning with an Austin Martin single, pushed into score from a Marcos Sanchez single. The score was 6-0 after one.
The Pelicans would not go down without a fight. In the top of the second they pushed across four runs on four hits to make the score 6-4. After the second, Curry settled in and went three scoreless innings not allowing a hitter to reach base. Curry's final line was a complete game, five innings pitched four runs on six hits and seven strikeouts.
The offense was not shutout in any of their four innings of hitting. The Blackhawks scored one off the bat of Kevin Gomez in the second. Five in the third with RBI's from Dayson Croes, Braeden Brown, two more from Kevin Gomez and one from Austin Martin.
In their last inning of hitting the Blackhawks scored five more runs on four hits with RBI's coming from Christian Cordero, Braeden Brown and Justin Hutter.
Kevin Gomez finished the game with one hit and four RBI's while Braeden Brown finished it with four hits and two RBI's. Bryce Simon had three hits out of the leadoff spot and Austin Martin added two of his own.
Game 3
Saturday the Blackhawks took on East Central Community College out of Decatur, Mississippi.
With one out Braeden Brown was able to reach on an error by the centerfielder, all the way to third base. Zeb Adreon then scored Braeden on a flyout to centerfield, putting the Blackhawks up 1-0.
Jared Skubic took the mound for the Blackhawks. In his first inning of work Skubic allowed three runs on four hits. After 1, the score was 3-1. The Blackhawks managed to push three more across in the second inning off of two Warrior errors and one hit from Marcos Sanchez. The score after two was 4-3
The Warriors pushed three more across in the third inning off of five hits. The score after three was 6-4. After allowing back to back singles to lead off the fourth inning, Josh Rawlinson was called out of the bullpen to take over and did not allow either baserunner to score. Rawlinson threw the next inning and a third and only allowed one baserunner to reach. Bryan Callaly was summoned in the 6th and struck out the first two batters he saw. Callaly worked around two baserunners in the seventh before allowing a run in the eighth, pushing the score to 7-4.
The Blackhawks offense was quiet most of the day. Justin Hutter finally got the offense going when he pinch hit in the top of the ninth with a homerun pushing the score to 7-5. After the next two batters got out, Bryce Simon reached on an error and Braeden Brown stepped up and crushed a pitch over the left field wall tying the game at 7. The Blackhawks were unable to hold the lead when a one out single walked the Blackhawks off in game one of the double header.
Game 4
Chas Sagedahl started the last game of the trip for the Blackhawks. Sagedahl was stellar through his outing not allowing a baserunner to reach second until the fifth inning when the left baserunners on second and third after a leadoff guy got on by an error.
The Blackhawk offense was stymied for the first three innings of the game only getting two guys to reach base, both on hit by pitches. In the top of the fourth, Justin Hutter led the inning off with a single, followed by a walk and a sac to move runners to second and third. Marcos Sanchez eventually got hit by a pitch to score the first run of the game, making it 1-0 Blackhawks.
The lead held until bottom of the 6th when the Warriors led off with their first hit of the game, a solo shot to tie the game at 1-1. Sagedahl would allow one more hitter to reach before retiring the next three hitters in succession.
Jason Matthews sparked the offense with a top of the seventh leadoff homerun that gave the Blackhawks the 2-1 lead entering the bottom of the last inning.
The Warriors led the inning off with a hit by pitch, followed by a bunt single to give the Warriors first and second with no outs. Another bunt attempt failed when the Blackhawks threw the runner out at third base. The next hitter hit a pop up to the catcher. With two outs the leadoff man for the Warriors stepped up and drove a 2-1 pitch to right center for a double to score both runs and walk the Blackhawks off for the second straight game.