OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION ALLOWS HAWKS TO COMPLETE SWEEP OF LAKE REGION STATE COLLEGE

NORFOLK, Neb. – The No. 10 ranked Northeast Community College baseball team was again at home Sunday to take on Lake Region State College at Norfolk Veterans Memorial Field in Norfolk. The Hawks (20-2) took home a sweep of the series, defeating the Royals by a final score of 11-9 in Game 1 and coming out victorious 22-10 in Game 2.

In Game 1 the Hawks and Royals traded the lead often throughout the showdown before the Hawks ultimately came out on top. The Hawks fell behind by four runs early, but Eli Crnkovich (Valley, Neb.) was excellent and weathered the storm. Kaden Young (Columbus, Neb.) and Maximo De Leon (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) added to their big weekends as they both clubbed their second homers of the series.

Game 2 was an offensive clinic for the Hawks as they threw up 22 runs on the scoreboard. De Leon added four more RBIs to continue his hot streak. Blaine Guthrie (Emerald, Wis.) came to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning and smashed a grand slam to walk-off the Royals via run rule.

The Hawks as a team scored 60 runs over the course of the weekend series.

STAT SHEET GAME 1

•          Kaden Young (Columbus, Neb.): 3-4, HR, 4 RBIs

•          Cooper Whitt (Knoxville, Tenn.): 3-4, 2B, HR, RBI

•          Maximo De Leon (Santon Domingo, Dominican Republic): 2-4, HR, 4 RBIs

•          Eli Crnkovich (Valley, Neb.) 4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, BB, 3 K

STAT SHEET GAME 1

•          Maximo De Leon (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic): 4-4, 2 RBIs, SB

•          Parker Dorrance (Arvada, Colo.): 2-3, 2 RBIs, SB

•          Harrison Taubert (Casper, Wyo.): 2-3, 3 RBIs, 2 BB, SB

•          Gage Ingram (LaVista, Neb.): 2 IP, ER, H, 3 K

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH

Head baseball coach Marcus Clapp's thoughts on Kaden Young and Maximo De Leon's big performances throughout the series:

"They had a good weekend," Clapp said. "When our lineup is going our lineup is tough 1-9. It doesn't matter where they hit. We need to have consistency throughout conference play now. It can't just be one weekend. We need to make sure that we stick with it and do what we've been doing."

Clapp's overall opinion of how the weekend played out:

"We have to continue to make routine plays," Clapp said. "On the mound, we have to get better before conference play gets going. We're going to keep getting after it. I thought overall, our hitters scoring 11 runs and 22 runs, I mean we're scoring. We just shouldn't have games where we're close or have teams be in games when we're scoring that many runs."

Clapp's mindset of where his team is as they now begin conference play:

"Well, like I just told the guys, being 20-2 doesn't matter at all," Clapp said. "Right now, it's all about the conference. Unless we finish in the top six it doesn't really matter. I don't really like where we are right now. Our last four or five games haven't been really good. We just have to get back to work tomorrow and get ready for our conference opener."

UP NEXT

The Hawks will begin conference play on the road against Iowa Western Community College. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  

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