For the third consecutive season, the Heartland baseball team received an automatic bid to the NJCAA DII World Series, as the Hawks went 4-1 this past weekend to win the Central District Tournament at The Corn Crib. The Hawks (43-16) defeated Illinois Central College on Thursday before falling to Parkland College on Friday forcing a win-or-go-home matchup with ICC Friday night. After defeating the Cougars again Friday, the Hawks needed to defeated Parkland twice on Saturday, and they would do just that in thrilling fashion to qualify for the national tournament.
 
Game 1
The Hawks endured a three-hour rain delay after playing one inning in game one of the tournament against ICC. The Cougars and Hawks were tied at 3-3 after one frame before a torrential downpour paused the contest, knocking Heartland ace Jacob O'Day out of the game.  Despite the delay, the Hawks used a seven-run fifth inning to cruise to a 14-5 victory in seven innings to advance to Friday's semifinals.
 
Prior to the delay, a three-run homer by ICC's Noah Campbell put the Cougars up 3-0 early. Bases-loaded singles by Beau Polickey and Kaden Grifitts tied the contest at 3-3 in the bottom of the first.
 
Following the pause in action, the Cougars scored once more in the second to take a 4-3 advantage. Heartland would regain the lead in the fourth, as Jesse Contreras and Corey Boyette both singled home runs to make it 6-4 in favor of the Hawks. RBI-singles by Max Hennemann, TJ Williams and Boyette, followed by a three-run homer by Brady Davidson extended the advantage to 13-4 in the fifth. Each team would score once more in the sixth, but the Hawks closed the door in the seventh to advance to a semifinal face-off with Parkland Friday afternoon.
 
Boyette and Griffitts paced the Hawks with three hits apiece. Patrick Gardner received the win on the mound, throwing 4.2 innings and allowing two runs on six hits, with seven punchouts.
 
Game 2
An 11-run sixth inning plagued the Hawks in an 18-10 loss to Parkland in Friday's first semifinal matchup. After the Cobras scored once in the first, the Hawks took a 6-1 advantage with three tallies apiece in the third and fourth frames. Griffitts delivered a three-run double in the third before Williams and Contreras each singled home runs in the fourth to make it 6-1. A bases-loaded walk by Williams in the fifth extended the lead to 7-1.
 
From there, it was all Parkland, as the Cobras scored 17 runs between the sixth and seventh to end the contest in seven frames. Long balls by Boyette and Griffitts in the sixth made it 12-10 Parkland, but the Cobras rallied for six more tallies in the seventh to take the opening matchup between the two clubs.
 
Game 3
With its backs against the wall, Heartland returned Friday night for a win-or-go-home contest against ICC, with the Hawks ultimately rebounding for an 18-7 win over the Cougars. The Hawks once again found itself in a hole, as the Cougars scored seven times in the second inning to take an early 7-1 lead.
 
The Hawks would respond with seven tallies of its own in the top of the third to regain the lead at 8-7. Davidson, Cale Steinbaugh, Griffitts, Polickey and Kyle Jannenga all delivered run-scoring singles in the frame. Adam Price added a bases-loaded walk.
 
An RBI-double by Griffitts in the fourth made it 9-7 in favor of the Hawks. An RBI-single by Boyette and an error by the Cougars in the fifth extended the lead to 12-7. Steinbaugh added a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 14-7.
 
Bases-loaded walks by Contreras and Boyette and a two-run double by Steinbaugh in the eighth gave the Hawks an 18-7 lead, which held as the final score. Steinbaugh, Griffitts and Polickey had three hits apiece for the Hawks. Luke Wright was dominant on the mound in five scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win, yielding just three hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
 
Game 4
Facing elimination once again, a flawless, complete-game performance on the mound by O'Day kept the Hawks' title hopes alive with a 3-0 victory over Parkland in the opening game of Saturday's championship series. The righty allowed just five hits and finished with 14 strikeouts to guide the Hawks to the win over the Cobras.
 
Polickey started the scoring for the Hawks with an RBI-single in the second to make it 1-0 in favor of Heartland. Another Polickey run-scoring hit in the fourth made it 2-0 before Williams delivered a single in the sixth to extend the lead to 3-0, which held as the final score. O'Day would yield two hits in the ninth frame, but a strikeout and a groundout forced a tournament-deciding game two against the Cobras on Saturday.
 
Game 5
A Will Applegate two-run homer in the top of the ninth forced the Hawks to rally in order to defeat the Cobras in game two on Saturday. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Davidson laced a fly ball to deep left field with two runners on, ultimately hitting the top of the wall and allowing two runs to score to tie the contest at 7-7. From there, the Hawks were in business. A flawless tenth frame on the mound by Wright set-up the Hawks for an opportunity to walk it off in the bottom of the inning, and they would do just that. After loading the bases, Contreras lined a single up the middle to score Polickey and the Hawks won the Central District Tournament in thrilling fashion.
 
Boyette opened the scoring for Heartland with an RBI-double in the first to make it 1-0. The Cobras tied the contest in the second, and ultimately took a 4-1 lead with three tallies in the third. A run by the Hawks in the third made it 4-2, but the Cobras responded with a tally of their own in the fourth to extend the lead to 5-2.
 
A run-scoring single by Griffitts made it 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth. An RBI-double by Contreras and a run-scoring groundout by Boyette in the fifth tied the contest at 5-5.
 
The Hawks will now await the NJCAA DII World Series selection show on Tuesday to find out its path for the tournament, which will be held May 25-June 1 at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla.