The Heartland baseball team continued its winning ways on Monday and Tuesday, as the Hawks took four games from Region-24 foe Vincennes University at The Corn Crib. The Hawks, who currently sit at 24-10 (16-4) overall, defeated the Trailblazers 8-4 and 14-4 on Monday before capturing 7-0 and 12-4 victories on Tuesday.
 
Game 1
Four late-inning tallies proved to be the difference for the Hawks in the series opener against Vincennes on Monday morning. Jesse Contreras ignited the scoring for the Hawks in the first on an RBI-single to score TJ Williams and make it 1-0.
 
Vincennes' Bradyn Douglas answered with a three-run double in the second to give the visitors a 3-1 advantage. A Williams RBI-single in the fourth narrowed the Heartland deficit to 3-2. Cale Steinbaugh added a two-run single in the fifth and the Hawks jumped back in front at 4-3 through five frames. The Trailblazers would tie it at 4-4 in the seventh on a Blake Heyerly run-scoring double.
 
From there, the Hawks held strong, as Beau Polickey gave Heartland the lead back with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh to make it 5-4. A bases loaded walk by Contreras followed by a Corey Boyette two-run double extended the advantage to 8-4 in the eighth. Patrick Gardner pitched three straight outs in the ninth and the Hawks took game one.
 
Nick Kolze received the win for the Hawks, tossing six innings and allowing three runs on six hits, with two walks and eight strikeouts. Boyette and Williams each led the charge offensively with four hits apiece.
 
Game 2
The Hawks continued this momentum into game two, as they scored 14 runs on 14 hits en route to a 14-4 win in six innings. After three scoreless frames by both teams, it was the fourth inning that saw the Hawks explode offensively for 11 runs. After Brady Davidson and Nate Cooley each walked to begin the frame, Polickey delivered an RBI-single to make it 1-0. Following an Adam Price walk to load the bases, Cooley scored on a wild pitch before Steinbaugh launched a three-run homer to left field to give Heartland a 5-0 lead.
 
Boyette, Cooley, Polickey, Price and Max Hennemann added run-scoring hits of their own later in the inning and the Hawks suddenly held an 11-0 advantage. Two home runs by the Trailblazers in the fifth gave them some life, but the Hawks would ultimately end the contest in the sixth.
 
Polickey and Price each singled to lead off the inning before Steinbaugh doubled home Polickey. Hennemann hit a sacrifice fly moments later before a Williams run-scoring single ended the game. Polickey and Steinbaugh each had three hits in the contest.
 
Game 3
Heartland returned for a doubleheader on Tuesday morning. Behind a dominant performance by right-hander Jacob O'Day, the Hawks defeated Vincennes 7-0 in the first contest of the day. O'Day yielded just three baserunners in the 7-0 complete-game shutout, with no walks and just two hits allowed.
 
A Boyette solo shot got the Hawks on the board in the first. Price added an RBI-groundout in the second to make it 2-0. A Davidson run-scoring single in the third made it 3-0 before Hennemann connected on a three-run bomb in the fourth to extend the Heartland advantage to 6-0. A miscue by the Trailblazers provided the other tally for the Hawks in the sixth.
 
Game 4
The series finale was much of the same for the Hawks in a 12-4 win over Vincennes. After run-scoring hits by Heyerly and Jace Parnin gave the Trailblazers an early 2-0 lead in the first, Heartland responded with two runs of its own to tie things at 2-2. Davidson singled to score Williams before a Polickey RBI-double.
 
Williams added an RBI-single of his own, which was followed by a sacrifice fly by Boyette and a run-scoring single by Davidson in the second to make it 5-2. Price drove in two more runs with a hit moments later to give Heartland a 7-2 lead. Price registered another RBI with a double in the fourth.
 
Boyette supplied another run in the fifth on an RBI-groundout to make it 9-2. Corbin Napier would single home two runs for Vincennes in the seventh, but the Hawks ended the contest in the eighth with three more tallies. Williams finished with four hits for the Hawks, while Davidson added three. Luke Wright threw well in the win, tossing 6.1 innings and allowing four runs on five hits, with 10 strikeouts.
 
The Hawks return to action at 2 pm Thursday for a doubleheader at Joliet Junior College.