Heartland baseball traveled down south for its first road trip, as the Hawks played four games between Friday and Sunday in Mississippi. The Hawks finished the trip with a 2-2 record to move to 3-2 overall on the young season.
 
Friday 2/23
Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, Miss. was the first stop for the Hawks on Friday. After winning the opening game 6-4, the visitors would ultimately fall 8-3 in game two of the doubleheader.
 
Two runs in the ninth inning proved to be the difference for the Hawks in game one to break a 4-4 tie. Beau Polickey led off the frame with a single, and Corey Boyette followed with a double to give the Hawks runners on second and third with no outs. After a ground out to SMCC's pitcher, Polickey would score on a wild pitch before Cade Duffin drove in Boyette with a sacrifice fly to give the Hawks a 6-4 advantage.
 
Despite yielding a leadoff single, Heartland reliever Nick Rainey secured the save with three straight outs in the bottom half of the frame and the Hawks opened the road trip with a victory. Polickey and Boyette each led the Hawks with two hits apiece. Tommy Atkinson added the lone other hit for the Hawks.
 
Michael Vitellaro (1-0) picked up the win after throwing two scoreless innings in relief with two strikeouts.
 
The Bears would score seven runs in the first two frames of game two to open up a 7-2 lead. The Hawks also scored twice in the opening inning, as three straight walks and an Atkinson hit by pitch drove in the game's first tally. Adam Price followed with a sacrifice fly to score Polickey. The lone other run for the Hawks came in the seventh inning on a Boyette RBI single.
 
TJ Williams finished with two hits, two runs and two walks. Polickey, Boyette and Kyle Jannenga each had a base knock. Jacob Brown (0-1) took the loss after allowing seven runs (five earned) on four hits with two walks and three punchouts. Patrick Gardner pitched a solid 4.2 innings in relief, yielding just one run on two hits with six strikeouts.
 
Saturday 2/26
The final two contests for Heartland took place at Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Miss. The Hawks' tallest task of the trip came at the hands of the host Wildcats, who were ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA DII Baseball Preseason Poll. Solid pitching and defense down the stretch of the game guided the Hawks to a 7-3 victory over the hosts on Saturday.
 
Boyette opened the scoring for the Hawks with a solo shot in the first. Jannenga added on to the advantage with a long ball of his own, this time a three-run shot to make it 4-0 in favor of Heartland. The Hawks continued to pour it on in the fourth frame. Singles by Williams and Boyette drove in two more runs to give the Hawks some cushion at 6-0.
 
After the Wildcats got on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth, Nate Cooley added a home run of his own to make it 7-1. The Wildcats would score two more tallies in the fifth, but the Hawks held on for the win.
 
Nick Kolze limited the damage for the Hawks throughout the afternoon, throwing 6.2 innings and yielding three runs on seven hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts. Joey Cecola finished the job with 2.1 scoreless frames.
 
Sunday 2/25
The final foe of Heartland's Mississippi trip was South Arkansas Community College. In a contest with limited offense, the Stars pulled out a 4-1 victory.
 
South Arkansas struck first in the second inning with a pair of tallies after two Heartland errors. A single by Williams to drive in Max Hennemann narrowed the deficit to 2-1 in the third, but that was all the Heartland offense could muster as the Stars yielded just four hits on the afternoon. The Stars would score two more times in the seventh to take home the 4-1 win.
 
Jacob O'Day threw well for the Hawks in six innings, allowing two runs (none earned) on two hits with eight strikeouts.
 
The Hawks will return home to play host to Black Hawk College for a 1 pm first pitch on Tuesday.