Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4
    On March 3rd, the Heartland Baseball team took on the John Wood Community College Blazers at the Corn Crib for the first day in their weekend series.

    The first game was filled with consistent hitting from the Hawks and a busy final few innings. Bennett Summers led off the offense with a single to get on base. With a walk and another hit from the lineup, Summers scored on a lineout to the right fielder from TJ Jakubowski. The Hawks would continue to score a single run every inning till the sixth. The Hawks went into the back half of the game up 5-1 and were able to add one more five late. That is all thanks to Dom Kooistra, Jakubowski, Daniel Bastidas, Jake Troyner, and Jake Parpet for having a two-hit game through 4-5 at-bats. Kooistra led the team, going 2-for-2 with a home run and two walks, scoring four runs. The team ended with 14 hits and 10 runs.
    Trevor Rehnstrom threw the majority of the game with 6.2 innings pitched. Across 27 batters, the sophomore dealt with five runs on eight hits, walking none and striking out six. Devan Tupper and Ryan Anderson came in for the final two innings, holding off the Blazers after their comeback of six runs in the top of the seventh inning. The Hawks would end up on top with a 10-7 win over John Wood to take Game One.

    Game two ended under the lights after a tight scoring game until the Hawks ultimately ran away with it in the end. After falling 0-3 in the first two innings. The Hawks' offense came alive in the fourth inning. The top half of the lineup showed up when Jimmy Anderson had a solo homerun to lead things off. Parpet sacrificed that out to advance Jakubowski to close the gap in the Blazers' lead. In the fifth, the bats strung together to score two more to go up by one when Anderson tripled to score a run, and Jakubowski responded right after with a single to center field. To bank some insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, the leadoff hitter, Bennett Summers, hit a sacrifice fly, and the leftfielder Kooistra had a two-run homerun to put the final at 7-3 in the seven-inning game.
    Dylan Nagle stepped on the mound for the Hawks to throw six total innings. The right-handed sophomore gave up nine hits and three runs, striking out four and walking one. Ryan Anderson closed things out and faced five batters in the last half-inning. Anderson gave up one hit and one walk with a strikeout to finish out the evening.

    Heartland traveled to Quincy, Illinois, the following day to finish the series to finish up Easter weekend.

    The Blazers jumped on the ball early to start the day, scoring seven in the first inning. Kasey Griffin and Casey Giemzik worked through the six innings together, each pitching three. Giemzik pitched the last half of the game, giving up one hit and no runs, walking two, and striking out one.
    Summers led things offensively with two hits in three at-bats. Parpet added two hits with an RBI to open the scoring up for the Hawks in the top of the fifth. Anderson added another home run, making it his 12th of the year, to put their game total to 3. Hawks would drop their first game of the day, 3-7, but were able to bounce back quickly in game two.

    After a quiet first three innings from both dugouts, the Hawks blew things open when Kooistra walked and then scored on a home run to right field from the third baseman, Jakubowski. Right after, Chase Peterson singled, leading to another homerun in the inning from Parpet to improve their lead to 4-0. Peterson had a strong performance, going 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs to finish the final game of the weekend. The offense collected 12 runs on 10 hits through 36 at-bats. Patience was also shown throughout the lineup with seven walks, four coming from Kooistra.
    On the mound for the Hawks, Jake Gimbel, Andy Antonacci, and Tyler Dowling split time throwing through the nine innings. In 40 batters, the pitchers were able to hold the Blazers to five runs on ten hits. Only five free bases were allowed with a total of seven strikeouts. Game four of the series ended with the Hawks on top, 12-5.

    Heartland Baseball took the series 3-1 and improved its conference record to 11-5. With a week full of nonconference games, the Hawks return to conference play with a weekend series against Vincennes University on March 10th and 11th at the Corn Crib.