After claiming the fourth overall seed for the NJCAA DII World Series, the Heartland baseball team faced a rematch with fifth-seeded St. John's River State in its opening game of the tournament at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla. on Sunday afternoon. In last year's World Series, the Hawks and Vikings battled twice, with the Hawks capturing 5-4 and 10-9 victories. The Vikings would get its revenge Sunday, however, defeating the Hawks 12-4 in seven frames.
 
A Roger Vergara RBI-single in the first put SJR in front 1-0. The Vikings scored twice more on a two-run homer by Wallace Gibson off of Heartland starter Jacob O'Day in the second to make it 3-0.
 
Tommy Atkinson tied the contest in the bottom of the frame with a three-run double to make it 3-3. An error by the Hawks in the third allowed another SJR run to score before Jesse Contreras scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to knot things at 4-4.
 
From there, a pair of Heartland errors and two more long balls powered the Vikings to a 12-4 advantage, which held as the final score. Contreras and TJ Williams each registered two hits for the Hawks in the loss.
 
The Hawks will now move to the bottom-half of the double-elimination bracket, facing Des Moines Area at 4 pm Monday at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla.