Baseball Gets Sweep in 2nd Day in Louisiana
(Sterlington, LA) – The Hastings Broncos’ bats came to life on day two in Louisiana, defeating LSU Alexandria in their first game of the day, 9-1, and Texas A&M Texarkana in their second, 8-4.
(Sterlington, LA) – The Hastings Broncos' bats came to life on day two in Louisiana, defeating LSU Alexandria in their first game of the day, 9-1, and Texas A&M Texarkana in their second, 8-4.
Hastings made a statement to open the game, turning a leadoff walk and hit-batter to sophomores Tyler Rojas and Cody Haynes into a three-run homer by junior Evan Morrison to take a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, LSU Alexandria drew a leadoff walk of their own and drove him in two batters later to cut the deficit to two. They had a chance for another run, but with their runner on third, senior catcher Kaden Steen picked him off right before a double by the Generals to keep the 3-1 lead.
Steen brought that momentum into his plate appearance in the next half inning, driving the ball over the wall for a solo home run. Later in the inning with the bases loaded and two outs, Rojas and Haynes each scored on two separate wild pitches to push the lead to five at 6-1.
Hastings piled on their lead in the sixth, loading the bases with nobody out with a single, hit-by-pitch, and a walk. Morrison walked to bring in junior Nick Deterding from third, then with two outs, Haynes and Rojas executed a double-steal, with Rojas scoring on the play, followed closely by Haynes to take a 9-1 lead, which held to be the final.
Senior pitcher Markus Miller pitched seven innings, allowing just the one-run and striking out three. He gave up only one hit outside of the third inning where they scored the run on three hits. Morrison went 1-2 at the plate with two walks and drove in four of their five earned runs. Rojas and Haynes each had a hit and a walk in the win, scoring three runs apiece.
Against Texas A&M Texarkana, Hastings loaded the bases in the first with two outs on a walk and two hit batters. Junior Jared Delgado drove in a run with an RBI single to left, scoring Haynes to go up 1-0.
In the second inning following a walk by junior Carter Guiton and a double from Rojas, Haynes reached on an error that scored Guiton on the play. Morrison walked to load the bases and with two outs, sophomore Peighton Vargas walked to bring home Rojas, giving Hastings a 3-0 lead.
The Eagles answered with two runs in the top half of the third, scoring on a groundout and sac fly after the first two batters reached base safely.
Hastings put together a third scoring inning in the fourth, using a leadoff double from Rojas and a one-out walk from Morrision to turn into two runs on a pinch-hit two-run RBI double to center by junior Samuele Bruno. In the next at-bat, Vargas smashed a two-run home run to take a 7-2 lead.
The final run was scored by the Broncos in the sixth inning, as Morrison led off the bottom half of the frame with a double and came around to score on an error that was put in play by senior Spencer Searcey, putting Hastings up 8-2. Texas A&M scored a pair of runs in the seventh, but Hastings came away with the 8-4 victory.
Junior pitcher Eduardo Galicia put together a strong start to earn the win, allowing only two hits and two runs through six innings, striking out six. Rojas was 2-4 at the plate - both doubles - with two runs and Delgado was 2-3 with a walk and an RBI. Morrison was 1-1 with two walks and scored twice. Vargas went 1-2 with a walk and 3 RBIs, scoring a run as well.
Up next, Hastings will play a single game at McPherson on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 2pm.
