NORMAL, Ill. - In what was to be a split series with both teams playing at their home fields, wet weather forced all four games to be played in Normal at the Corn Crib. The Hawks took three of the four games in their conference matchup against Spoon River College, earning two of those wins in walk-off fashion. With the weekend's wins against the Snappers, the Hawks are now 7-5 in conference play, and 16-9 on the year. 

Friday, April 5th

Game 1 (L, 2-3)

In what turned out to be a classic pitchers' battle between Heartland's Andrew Zapka and Spoon River's Clay Schroeder, the Hawks were unable to take the first game of the series from the Snappers. The game remained scoreless through five innings of play, where the Hawks would put the first run on the board on a bases loaded walk to Austin Cain, scoring Normal West High School alum Jake Marti. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Snappers would see their game-tying run come across the plate, also on a bases loaded walk. A sacrifice fly by Spoon River's Jack Schaffer would score Kyle Stanford from third base, giving the Snappers a 2-1 lead going into the final inning of the game. The Hawks were quick to tie the game back up as Matt Barnes stole second, which brought freshman Maurey Garrett home. The late heroics weren't enough for the Hawks, as Nelson Diaz hit a single down the left-field line, scoring Robert Chayka and ending the game in walk-off fashion. 

Game 2 (W, 13-1) 

After falling short in Game 1 of the afternoon, the Hawks went into Game 2 hungry for a win. Sophomore Clifton Slagel had an impressive outing on the mound, throwing 5.0 innings, only allowing one run on four hits, striking out four. The Hawks were solid in the field, committing no errors throughout the game, but hot bats helped the Hawks prevail. The scoring got started in the top of the second inning on a double by Sam Olson that scored Maurey Garrett and Jake Zylman, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead early. Another run was added in the fourth inning on a Maurey Garrett RBI single that brought Austin Cain across the plate and bringing the score to 3-0. Matt Barnes added two RBIs to his stats in the top of the fifth inning to give the Hawks a five run lead on the Snappers. It was costly errors on defense that cost Spoon River two more runs in the fifth, further adding to the Hawks lead. Spoon River's lone run came in the bottom of the fifth on a Brett Johnson RBI single to right field, scoring Dalton Phillips and bringing the score to 7-1. The Hawks would add six more runs in the top of the sixth inning to bring the score to 13-1, ending the game after six innings on a run-rule. 

Sunday, April 7th

Game 3 (W, 6-5)

Stetson University commit Garner Spoljaric got the start in Sunday's first game, the third game of the series. Spoljaric threw 6.0 innings, allowing only two runs on seven hits, striking out nine on the day. The Hawks put two runs on the board early in the first inning on an RBI double from Miles Simington (Purdue University commit) that scored Sam Olson and a Tyler McHolland single that scored Simington from second base. Maurey Garrett would help add another to the run column in the bottom of the second inning, laying down a near-perfect sacrifice bunt to score Matt Barnes from third base. Spoon River would add a run in the third inning on a Nelson Diaz sacrifice fly to score Robert Chayka, and another run in the fourth inning on a ground-out by Dalton Phillips that saw Trey Kazubowski score from third base to bring the Snappers within one run going into the bottom of the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Austin Cain's RBI single and Maurey Garrett's fielder's choice helped the Hawks score two and bring the score to 5-2, where the score would remain until the seventh inning. In the top of the seventh, Spoon River's Connor Wise would drive in a run on a left-field single to bring the Snappers within two. With two runners on base, Trey Kazubowski hit a go-ahead home run to left center, giving Spoon River a 6-7 lead going into the final half inning of the game. With Jake Marti on third, after reaching base on a fielder's choice and advancing on an error by the shortstop and ground-out, fellow Normal West High School alum Peyton Dillingham came to the plate with two outs. Dillingham became the hero, ripping the ball to left field and over the fence for a walk-off game-winning home run, bringing the final score to 6-5.  

Game 4 (W, 5-4)

In the second game of the afternoon, freshman Tyler Willman would get the call to start on the mound for the Hawks. Willman put in 4.0 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out seven and walking none. In the top of the first inning, Trey Kazubowski continued his impressive day at the plate, scoring Robert Chayka on an RBI single. The score would stay 1-0 until the fourth inning, where Jack Schaffer's RBI single to center-field would bring another run across the plate for Spoon River. The Hawks were quick to respond, adding three runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Jake Zylman RBI single, Austin Cain ground-out, and a Sam Olson RBI single. The Snappers wasted no time tying the game at three runs a piece in the top of the fifth inning, where Trey Kazubowski scored from third base on a passed ball. In the final inning of the game, Spoon River's Nelson Diaz homered off of semester transfer Paul Turelli, giving the visitors a one run lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out on the board, Miles Simington came to the plate and roped a home run over the left-field fence to tie the game at four. After sophomore Michael Bieterman struck out looking for the second out of the inning, Peyton Dillingham came up to bat in another game-winning walk-off scenario for the Hawks. Dillingham doubled down the left-field line. With roles now switched from the game prior, it was now Jake Marti at the plate with Dillingham on base in scoring position. Marti hit a hard ground ball to left center-field, which brought Dillingham accross the plate to give the Hawks their second walk-off win of the afternoon, taking the series from Spoon River. 

The Hawks return home on Tuesday, April 9th for a 4:00 PM non-conference matchup against South Suburban College. You can catch the live stream of all baseball games this season by clicking here, and follow along with live stats by clicking here.