Baseball Wins Game 2 on Senior Day
(Hastings, NE) – The Hastings Broncos took on the Dordt Defenders on Senior Day, with the Defenders winning game one, 21-7, but finished the day strong by winning game two, 9-3.
(Hastings, NE) – The Hastings Broncos took on the Dordt Defenders on Senior Day, with the Defenders winning game one, 21-7, but finished the day strong by winning game two, 9-3.
Game one started out in favor of the Defenders, as they put two runs on the board in the top of the first inning. One run came on a sac fly and the other came around on a fielding error. Dordt took a 3-0 lead in the second on a two-out rally that began with a hit batter, followed by an RBI double.
With one on and one out in the bottom of the second, Hastings' junior Tristan Martinez took second on a wild pitch and scored on a base hit up the middle by senior Tyler Welsh to make it 3-1.
Later in the third inning with the bases loaded, junior Jace Valdez hit a sharp ground ball that ricocheted off of the pitcher into right field, scoring Welsh from third and senior Alliskair Descartes from second. Freshman Eddie Henchek put the Broncos ahead 5-3 with a two-run RBI triple to deep right that brought home Valdez and junior Jaden Stone.
The first seven batters reached for Dordt in the top of the third inning, leading to 12 runs and a 15-5 advantage. The Defenders added four more in the fourth and two in the sixth to take a 21-5 lead.
In the bottom half of the sixth, senior Vince Byrne led off with a walk, then senior Elijah Merritt later drove in the run on an RBI double to left-center field. Duinick walked right after, leading to Masur driving in Merritt to make it a 21-7 final in game one.
Game two started in similar fashion for Dordt with five of the first six batters reaching base safely, en route to a 3-0 lead. That would be the last of the runs scored by the Defenders, as juniors Markus Miller and Cooper Gierhan went the final eight innings without another run scored.
Hastings answered back with one run in the bottom half of the inning, as sophomore Jared Delgado doubled down the left field line with two outs and with junior Ben Richter courtesy running, Henchek brought him home with a single to cut it to 3-1.
In the third inning, Descartes walked and took third on a single by Stone and Defender error. Stone stole second later in the at-bat and the throw went into center field, allowing Descartes to score easily. Hastings scored later in the inning on a sac fly by Merritt to tie it up at three.
Hastings took the lead in the fourth as junior Coletin Renn hit a one-out single and scored on a double to left center from Stone, making it 4-3.
The Broncos were able to expand their lead in the fifth to 7-3, started by Delgado and Henchek reaching safely to open the inning. With the bases loaded and one out following a walk by junior Tristan Martinez, Richter and Henchek each scored on separate wild pitches. Martinez scored the final run of the inning on a double to left field by senior Mason Masur.
No more scoring occurred until the seventh inning when a ball hit by Renn led to an error by Dordt and to two unearned runs to go up 9-3, which held to be the final score.
Miller allowed three hits after a two-hit, three-run first inning, as he pitched 6.1 innings, striking out two. Gierhan came on in relief, going 2.2 scoreless innings on two hits and striking out two. Stone, Valdez, and Delgado each had two hits, while Renn led the team with two RBIs.
Up next, Hastings will play a make-up doubleheader on Monday, April 7 at Concordia, beginning at 2pm.
