Heartland baseball moves to final day of district tournament

Day two of the District Tournament held highs and lows for the Heartland baseball team. Game one to advance to the District Championship against the Parkland Cobras ended in a tough loss, but the Hawks found their bats in the following game.

The Hawks versus Cobras matchup started off slow for the team as they worked to find some runs. After Parkland scored four in the first two innings, the Hawks responded with a few hits to bring in two runs. Chase Peterson saw the bases more often than not, going three-for-five with a double and one run scored. TJ Jakubowski added two hits to the team's total of 10, ending the game with an RBI and a free base. The Hawks were only able to string together four runs, which fell short to the Cobras' 10. Dylan Nagle, Ryan Anderson and Andy Antonacci worked together on the mound. The pitching staff allowed eight earned runs and 12 hits but recorded 13 strikeouts through 46 batters.

Falling into the loser's bracket, the Hawks were set to face the Moberly Area Greyhounds to determine who would advance to Championship Saturday. The Hawks found contact early on when Peterson and Kooistra reached base in the bottom of the first inning. Five more hits and a few free bases led to the offense scoring nine runs to set the tone. Jake Parpet brought in two runs with a home run in the following inning. The catcher finished with four hits and five runs batted in.

Trevor Rehnstrom started on the mound for the defense, throwing two innings with no runs and no hits finding the field. Nick Tickle followed that performance with Michael Belbot and Devan Tupper to finish the back half of the game. Tupper closed the game with no runs allowed and gave up three hits while striking out three.

The Hawks ended the day with a 15-7 win, advancing them to the championship game tomorrow, where they will face Parkland College in hopes of moving on to the National Tournament.