NORMAL, Ill. - The Hawks played host to the Illinois Central College Cougars on Friday, where they would take both games at home before traveling to East Peoria, Illinois on Saturday. After sweeping the Cougars, the Hawks are now 6-4 in their last 10 games and are on a five-game win streak going into the final week of the regular season. 

Friday, May 3rd

Game 1 (W, 11-6)   

Dayton University commit Andrew Zapka took the mound to start the first game of the series for the Hawks, throwing 5.2 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits, striking out two. Paul Turelli would be called in for relief of Zapka and would record the win, allowing no runs on only two hits, striking out two. Stanford, Illinois native Mason Marquis would see action in the final inning to close out the game, striking out two of the three batters he faced to solidify the win for the Hawks. 

The Hawks would see themselves trailing Illinois Central College through five innings of play, allowing the first run in the top of the first when Vinnie Massaglia tripled to right center, scoring Ben Hopkins to give the Cougars a quick one-run lead. Michael Bieterman would put the Hawks first run up in the bottom of the third inning on a solo homerun, but the tie wouldn't last long. In the top of the next inning, Luke Woodward would double to left center field, scoring two more for the Cougars to go ahead by two runs. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Hawks would take the lead for the first time in the game, scoring four runs to bring the score to 5-3 after five innings of play. The lead would quickly be taken away from the Hawks, as Illinois Central College's Kyle Weeks would hit a three-run homerun in the top of the sixth inning, putting the visitors up by one. The Hawks would tie the ball game back up at six runs a piece in the bottom of the same inning when Michael Bieterman would reach base on an error, scoring Normal West High School alum Jake Marti from third. Five more runs would score for the Hawks in the bottom of the seventh inning, four of those runs coming from a two run double hit by another Normal West High School alum, Peyton Dillingham. After a throwing error committed by left fielder Vinnie Massaglia, Dillingham would continue to round the bases and eventually score on the play, bringing the final score to 11-6. 

Game 2 (W, 13-0) 

Bloomington, Illinois and University High School alum Jake Armstrong would get the start in the second game of Friday's doubleheader, throwing a complete game shutout, allowing only five hits and striking out two. Armstrong is now 2-1 on the season after starting five games for the Hawks.  

Game 2 ended two innings early, as the Hawks would enforce a run-rule after five innings of play, scoring 13 runs in a span of three innings. The game saw the first runs be scored in the bottom of the second inning, starting with an RBI single hit by designated hitter Levi Ransom. Another run would score two batters later when Matt Barnes would ground into a double play that would bring Tyler McHolland (University of Central Missouri commit) across the plate. With two outs and a runner in scoring position, Shakur Jackson would step into the box and hit a two-run homerun to give the Hawks a 4-0 lead after two innings. An inning later, the Hawks would score eight more runs on seven hits, with all eight runs scoring with two outs. Shakur Jackson would add another insurance run in the fourth inning to bring the final score to 13-0. 

Five Hawks would record multiple hit games, while every batter in the lineup recorded at least one hit. Matt Barnes, Miles Simington (Purdue University commit), Sam Olson (Xavier University) and Peyton Dillingham would all record doubles, and Shakur Jackson would hit his first homerun of the season. Along with hitting his first homerun, Jackson recorded a season-high five RBIs and recorded a stolen base. 

Saturday, May 4th

Game 3 (W, 3-1)

After scoring a combined 24 runs in the first two games of the series, the Hawks hit the road to East Peoria, Illinois to face Illinois Central College on their own turf. The third game of the season would see three Hawks be utilized on the mound, with Garner Spoljaric (Stetson University commit) getting the start. Spoljaric threw 2.0 innings, allowing one run on no hits, striking out three before Killian O'Hanlon would come in for relief. O'Hanlon would pitch 2.1 innings, allowing only one hit and striking out two. Jonathan Burkhart (Campbell University commit) would come in to close the game out, pitching 2.2 innings, allowing no runs or hits, striking out four of the eight batters faced to record his first win of the year. 

After two scoreless innings, Illinois Central College would take the lead in the bottom of the third inning, scoring their lone run of the game on a sacrifice fly hit by Kyle Weeks. The Hawks would answer in the top half of the next inning on a Miles Simington solo homerun, his seventh on the year to lead the team in homeruns. The game would remain tied at one until the top of the seventh inning when the Hawks would score two runs on an Austin Cain RBI double and a Matt Barnes fly out that would score Levi Ransom to give the Hawks the lead and bring the final score to 3-1. 

Game 4 (W, 4-1)

The final game of the series would see Tulane University commit Clifton Slagel start on the mound for the Hawks. Slagel threw a complete 7.0 inning game, allowing only one run on five hits, striking out 11 of the 31 batters he faced to improve to 6-1 on the year. 

As it was in the first game of Saturday afternoon's doubleheader, the first two innings of the game were scoreless until the Hawks put two runs on the board. Matt Barnes scored the game's first run on a wild pitch by Illinois Central College's Logan Peterson. The second run of the inning would score on an RBI single hit by Sam Olson that would bring Jake Marti across the plate. The fifth inning would see the Hawks add another run on a error committed by Illinois Central College's Renegade Schott, scoring Miles Simington from third base. An inning later, Austin Cain would hit a line drive to left field, scoring Levi Ransom. The Cougars would score their only run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a ground out that would score Jared Holt from third. 

The Hawks return home on Tuesday, May 7th at 10:00 AM for an inter-region matchup against Triton College. You can live stream all home games by clicking here, and follow along with live stats by clicking here