Baseball Hawks split weekend
A rainy Saturday afternoon saw the Laurier Golden Hawks men's baseball team take on the Toronto Varsity Blues in a double-header at Bechtel Park in Waterloo.
Laurier last met up with the Blues in their season opener, where the Hawks came out on top. This time around, however, each team took one game.
The Blues won a close first game that ended in a 3-2 final. Then, in an action-packed game two, the Hawks managed to battle back and secure a 10-8 victory.
The Hawks started the second game off strong, when catcher Fraser MacKinnon robbed the Blues of their first run with a stellar tag at home plate.
At bat, Scott Mahn led off with a single and was then rewarded for stealing second, scoring on a hit from rookie Ryan Panas. Panas also stole second, and then scored off McKinnon to make it a 2-0 ball game for the Hawks.
A couple of drops in Laurier's right field tied it up for the Blues, and a fumble at shortstop put them ahead.
Cranking two more balls to centre field, the Blues scored a total of five runs in the second inning alone, and two more in the next earned them a 7-2 lead.
Keeping pitchers fresh on the Laurier mound, the Hawks managed to hold off the Blues in the third, setting the stage for a Golden Hawk comeback.
The turning point was at the plate in the bottom of the fourth, when rookie James Bruce hit an in-field single, outfielder Andrew Stevens settled for a walk, and rookie Jesse Milanovich loaded the bases. A stray pitch from the Blues pegged third-year Brian McDonald, and the Hawks walked in to score.
Mahn had a hit tip off the glove of a Blues player, and another run was scored. The bases remained loaded with a hit from veteran Chris Pittaway, and Panas scored an RBI.
Fourth-year veteran Curtis Young then hit a double and tied it up at seven, but another run scored by the Blues kept them in the game.
With loaded bases from yet another walk, Toronto switched pitchers in a desperate attempt to keep their lead, but both Panas and Young walked.
Singles from Stevens, Milanovich, and MacDonald brought in another run for the Hawks and the game ended with the Blues flying out twice to left-fielder Mike Ruetz, giving the Hawks the win.
First-baseman Young made several key plays both offensively and defensively for the Hawks. “Guys were just getting on base a lot better and it gave me the opportunity to drive them in," he said.
"We came through; had a couple big walks, got some base runners on, and had a few key hits. The relief pitchers did a good job,” commented Head Coach Scott Ballantyne.
"We used a lot of guys today; we got some rookies in that hadn't really been in. It was a good overall team game in game two."
The Hawks will face Waterloo in their next game today at 7:00 p.m. at Bechtel Park.
