Hiawatha and Troy baseball teams had one last tune-up prior to Regionals which start next week when the two teams meet up on the diamond on Thursday night in Troy and the Red Hawks snagged a pair of wins claiming 9-4 and 16-8 victories.
Game one saw Hiawatha fly out to the early lead plating three runs in the top of the first inning as a runner reached on an error another on a dropped strike three and then Gabe Corbett blasted a three-run homer to make it 3-0. Hiawatha added another run in the top of third and then scored three in the fourth with a two RBI single by Michael Moreno and RBI single by Hunter Pavlish making it 7-0. Troy broke through in the bottom of the fourth scoring two runs on a two-run homer by Kohlbe King and then got a solo home run by Bray Davies to make it 7-3. In the top of the sixth Hiawatha capitalized in a pair of Troy errors to score two to lead 9-3, Troy added a run in bottom of the sixth on a bases loaded walk but Hiawatha would then go on to clinch the 9-4 win.
Hiawatha was led by a multi-hit game for multiple guys as Moreno, Corbett and Pavlish. Moreno went 2-4 with a walk, two runs score and two RBI's, while Corbett was 3-4 with a three-run homer and Pavlish went 2-4 with an RBI, run scored and also reached on an error. Troy had King and Davies each hit a home run, while Ike Morris also had a hit and walk.
Game two was tight through five innings but the sixth belonged to Hiawatha as the Red Hawks scored 10-runs in the inning to ultimately push them to a 16-8 win and sweep. Troy led early plating two runs in the bottom of the first on a walk, two hits and a sacrifice fly to take a 2-0 lead. Corbett hit a solo home run in the second for Hiawatha to get on the board and then a two RBI single by Pavlish pushed the Red Hawks to a 3-2 lead in the top of the third. Troy had a quick answer scoring two in the bottom of the fourth using four walks and good base running pushing the Trojans back in front at 4-3. An RBI single by Austin O'Conner in the bottom of the fifth made it 5-3 Troy going into the sixth. Hiawatha regained the lead and took control of the game in the sixth by scoring 10 runs with a pair of grand slams in the inning. The Red Hawks worked the bases loaded via walks and then Moreno hit the first grand slam of the inning to give Hiawatha a 7-5 lead at that point. The bases were worked loaded again on the next three batters and Brode Jones then blasted one out of the park for the second grand slam of the inning and Hiawatha added a pair of runs on top of that in the inning. Red Hawks scored three more in the seventh and Troy then answered with three in the bottom of the seventh but Hiawatha picked up the 16-8 win.
Pavlish went 3-4 to lead Hiawatha with a pair of RBI and run scored, while Jones went 2-4 with a grand slam and Moreno was 3-5 with a grand slam. In the loss Troy had a two-hit game from King who had two RBI's, a run scored, walk and reached on an error, while Marcus Martinez had a double with a run scored and walk.
The two wins move Hiawatha to 5-12 on the season in their first year of baseball, while Troy fell to 3-16 on the season. Both teams now gear up for Regionals on Monday as Hiawatha will compete at the 3A Maur Hill-Mount Academy Regional vs Nemaha Central Monday at 2:00pm in first round action in Atchison, while Troy will travel to Valley Falls for first round 2-1A KC Christian Regional action with game time set for 5:00pm.
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