A little adversity couldn't slow down the Southeastern baseball team over the weekend as they completed their second 4-0 weekend of the season. Field conditions in Millington, TN this weekend meant no Babe Howard JUCO Classic, so the Blackhawks stayed closer to home to take two from Rend Lake in a Saturday doubleheader at Lenz Field in Jacksonville, IL and won a pair against McHenry County College on Sunday at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, IA to finish off the weekend. The weekend sweep was the seventh win in a row for the Blackhawks and gives them an 11-1 record on the young season.
Chase Keeney was the story for the Blackhawks in game one on the weekend against Rend Lake, as the freshman from Cedar Rapids went 8 strong innings, surrendering two runs on just seven hits while striking out 10 without walking a single batter in the 5-2 victory. Closer Kyle Amendt came in to finish things off with a perfect ninth inning striking out two without surrendering a hit to earn his second save of the season. Lead-off hitter Carlos Pinyero was once again the catalyst for the offense with a 3-5 performance, while Lincoln Riley chipped in a 2-3 performance scoring two of SCC's five runs.
In the second game of the doubleheader, a seven inning affair against the Warriors, freshman Logan Agan moved his record to 3-0 on the season in dominating fashion, striking out eight of the 16 batters he faced in the 8-0 victory. Agan allowed just 1 hit over four shutout innings. A trio of fellow freshmen finished off the game for the Blackhawks without surrendering a single hit in the final three innings. Jon Cross had a stellar debut, striking out the side in the fifth, while Trey Ryan struck out two of the three hitters he faced in the 6th, and Reece Wissinger struck out the side in the 7th. For the game, SCC recorded 16 of the 21 outs via strikeout. The Southeastern offense got things going in the third inning thanks to a leadoff triple from center fielder Lincoln Riley that set the tone for a 3 run inning. Riley went 3-4 on the day with a pair of triples. Oliver Regalado also had a 3-4 day with two RBI's, as the duo had six of the Blackhawks' 11 hits in the game. Oscar Sanabria was 2-3 on the day and drove in two runs as well.
Unlike the previous day, the Blackhawks offense got things going early, putting up 3 runs in the bottom of the first, tacked on another in the second in a 7-2 victory over 18th ranked McHenry County College in game one of the day. In the bottom of the first, Carlos Pinyero led off with a walk, which was followed up by a Lincoln Riley single. Oliver Regalado then hit a sacrifice fly with one out to score Pinyero. Following an Austin Simpson walk, Carlos Medina singled to plate Riley and Simpson would score a batter later thanks to a throwing error by McHenry 3rd baseman Toussaint to finish of a three-run first. The offense would go on to score four more runs for good measure, while pounding out 12 hits in the contest. Medina led the way at the plate going 3-5 and Pinyero chipped in a 2-4 performance. The Blackhawk's pitching staff made sure the seven runs were more than enough as dominant pitching was a continued theme on the weekend. It was Ky Hampton's turn to befuddle hitters Sunday as he earned his second victory of the season, surrendering just one run on five hits and struck out seven in seven strong innings of work. Hampton shutout the Scotts for 5 2/3 before surrendering his only run of the day on a solo homerun, but didn't allow another hit on the day before turning things over to Josh Hoffman. Hoffman threw a scoreless 8th and Braden Houston returned from illness to finish things off in the 9th, surrendering the only other run of the day for the McHenry offense on a solo shot before retiring the next two batters to finish off the victory.
In the weekend finale, the roles were reversed as the Blackhawks found themselves in an early 4-1 deficit after two innings of play. Although Southeastern led 1-0 after the first, McHenry bounced back to put up a four spot in the second to end Southeastern starter Jacob Bockenstedt's day after just two innings. However, the Blackhawk offense responded with two runs of their own in the second, thanks in large part to four walks by the Scotts' pitching staff, to cut the deficit to one. Britt Noel would come around to score for the second time on the day an inning later to tie the game at 4 after three innings of play. Austin Simpson was hit by a pitch with two outs and nobody on in the fourth and came around to score on a single by Noel to push the Blackhawks ahead 5-4. That would be all the scoring the bullpen would need as Lucas Bixby, who has yet to give up a run this season, came on in relief of Bockenstedt to toss 2 2/3 shutout innings to get the win on the bump. Hoffman came on to record the final out of the fifth on just two pitches and Amendt earned his second save of the weekend and third on the season recording the final 6 outs of the game. Amendt surrendered just one hit and struck out 4 of the 8 batters he faced in the 5-4 victory.
Up next for the 11-1 Blackhawks is their second four game weekend trip to Mississippi this season. They are scheduled to take on East Central CC and Jones County in a Saturday doubleheader in Decatur, MS before traveling to Moorhead, MS to take on Mississippi Delta CC in a Sunday Doublehead
