Heartland baseball returned to Midwest Athletic Conference action this week, as the Hawks faced-off with Lincoln Land Community College for a doubleheader on Sunday, before traveling to Springfield for two games on Monday. The Hawks would ultimately split the series with the Loggers to improve to 24-4 and 9-3 in conference play.
 
Game 1
In game one, the Hawks received great pitching and solid defense en route to a 6-0 victory over the Loggers on Sunday. Heartland jumped-out in front in the second inning, as Mark Kattula scored on a Lincoln Land error before Gallien Coupet drove in another tally on a single up the middle to make it 2-0. A Corey Boyette double scored two more for the Hawks in the third to extend the advantage to 4-0. Meade Johnson and Jack Stellano combined to shut the Loggers' offense down, as the two combined to allow just 4 hits and 5 walks, while yielding no runs and striking out 11. Heartland added another run in the fourth on a RBI single by Daniel Mosele, and one more in the sixth after a sacrifice fly by Coupet to make it 6-0.
 
Game 2
Offense was difficult to come by in game two, as Lincoln Land pitcher Mitch Dye tossed a complete game shutout in a 1-0 win for the Loggers in seven innings. The Hawks combined for just four hits in the contest, with Jacyk Uehling contributing two hits. Boyette and Matt Santarelli also had one hit apiece in the game. The winning run for Lincoln Land came on an RBI double in the top of the sixth frame off of Heartland reliever Will Fletcher.
 
Game 3
In another tightly-contested game on Monday, the Loggers rallied for five runs in the bottom-half of the seventh to defeat Heartland 9-8. The Hawks took an early 3-1 lead in the second frame after an Aidan McNamee sacrifice fly and a Ben Hartl double drove in runs. The Loggers would tie the game in the fifth before Heartland put up four tallies in the ensuing top-half of the sixth to take a 7-3 lead. Coupet scored on a wild pitch, and was followed by a Sam Antonacci fielder's choice that also drove in a run. Auston Brewer knocked in two more with an RBI single. After a Mosele solo shot made it 8-4 in the seventh, the Loggers scored five runs in the bottom of the inning to take home the walk-off victory.
 
Game 4
The series finale was much more favorable for the Hawks, as they cruised to a 13-1 win. Heartland compiled 13 hits in the win, with Hartl, Santarelli, Atkinson and Coupet all contributing multi-hit performances. The big inning for the Hawks came in the fifth, as they scored eight runs behind two home runs by Santarelli to open-up the 13-1 lead. Santarelli led-off the frame with a solo shot, and followed that later in the inning with a grand slam. Isaiah Jackson pitched an efficient game for the Hawks in the win, as the righty tossed five innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 7.
 
Heartland will return to action Friday and Saturday for a four-game MWAC series at Vincennes University. First pitch is scheduled for 3 pm ET on Friday and 1 pm ET on Saturday.