HAWKS START 2026 SEASON WITH WEEKEND SPLIT IN OKLAHOMA

ENID, Okla. – The Northeast Community College baseball team began their 2026 campaign with a four-game series in Enid, Oklahoma over the weekend against Northern Oklahoma College-Enid. The Hawks fell in Game 1 by a final score of 6-5, took Game 2 and Game 3 by final scores of 7-4 and 5-2 before dropping Game 4, 9-1 to split the series.

Northeast (2-2) was strong at the plate in Game 1 Saturday as Brice Wallar (Papillion, Neb.) and Chris Lundeen Jr. (Westminster, Colo.) both launched their first homers of the season in the showdown and each picked up two RBIs. Freshman Benjamin Northrup (Monroe, Utah) also picked up the first hit of his collegiate career in the matchup.

In Game 2, the Hawks were powered on the mound by Cole Kuzak (Broomfield, Colo.) as the sophomore went 3.2 innings on the hill, allowed just three hits and struck out five batters. Fitzpatrick picked up a triple and a single in the contest as Northeast entered the win column for the first time in 2026.

The Hawks picked back up where they left off Saturday on Sunday morning as Wallar hit his second home run of the season in Game 3 of the series and Beckett Lund (Lincoln, Neb.) picked up the victory on the mound, tossing four innings and allowing just two hits while striking out three batters.

Northeast struggled to push runs across the plate in Game 4 as they out-hit the Jets five hits to four but only scored one run. Fitzpatrick tallied two hits in the ballgame to bring his total to seven on the weekend as the Hawks will have the week off before heading south again to battle Neosho County Community College in four games beginning at 12 p.m. Sunday in Chanute, Kansas.

STAT SHEET GAME 1:

Brice Wallar (Papillion, Neb.): 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, R

Chris Lundeen Jr. (Westminster, Colo.): 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R

Eli Johnston (Wahoo, Neb.): 3.2 IP, 5 H, ER, K

STAT SHEET GAME 2:

Brady Fitzpatrick (Bellevue, Neb.): 2-3, BB, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI

Cole Kuzak (W) (Broomfield, Colo.): 3.2 IP, 3 H, ER, 5 K

STAT SHEET GAME 3:

Brice Wallar (Papillion, Neb.): 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, R

Brady Fitzpatrick (Bellevue, Neb.): 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, R

Beckett Lund (W) (Lincoln, Neb.): 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 K

STAT SHEET GAME 4:

Brady Fitzpatrick (Bellevue, Neb.): 2-3, R

Hayden Parrish (Omaha, Neb.): 2-3

Beau Pasteur (Pittsburg, Kan.): 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, K

HEAR FROM THE HAWKS COACH:

Head Baseball Coach Marcus Clapp on Saturday in Oklahoma:

"I thought Cole Kuszak and Max Denson were really good," Clapp said. "They were in control the whole game. We had a couple of errors that made the game closer than it should've been. Offensively, I thought we did some good things, and Brady had a couple of big hits for us."

Clapp on the split Sunday:

"I thought we pitched well for 12 innings," Clapp said. "We were in control most of Game 3 and we were in control most of Game 4, but we couldn't get anything going offensively and let an inning get away from us."

Clapp on the series as a whole and heading to Kansas next weekend:

"We saw some good and not so good this weekend," Clapp said. "We will get back after it this week during practice."

UP NEXT:

The Hawks will take on Neosho County Community College in a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. Sunday in Chanute, Kansas.

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