Howard Hawks Baseball opens up Conference play against Clarendon spliting 4 game series 2-2
The Howard Hawks Baseball team opened up play in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference this past weekend Mar.19-20. They played two back-to-back doubleheaders, one Friday the next Saturday against Conference foe the Clarendon Bulldogs. The Hawks would split the four-game series going 2-2 over the weekend of play.
The First game of this first game set took place Friday, Mar. 19, at Jack Barber Field. Hawks ace pitcher Kris Anglin took the bump to start the long weekend of play. Anglin wasted no time dispatching the Bulldogs in the top of the first, getting a quick and easy three up and three down. At the bottom of the first, the Hawks had their first chance of the day at the plate, but Clarendon's Pitcher matched Anglin, forced a few ground outs, and had a quick inning of his own.
The Super Star Freshman and Texas Tech commit Anglin continued his dominance in his second inning wif work with a three-up threedown inning. The Bottom of the second began with two quick outs; then it was Broch Holmes who hammered a Homerun to left field for the Hawks' first run of the game. That gave the Hawks the lead 1 to 0 after two innings of play.
Anglin continued to deal in his third inning of work with yet another one, two, three inning making easy work of the Bulldogs. The Hawks would get a few walks in their half of the third but couldn't push anything across, leaving the score at 1 to 0 after three innings.
When the fourth started, it was obvious that Anglin was pitching a gem of a game; this would be the inning that the Clarendon Bulldogs got their only hit on the day. His pitching on the mound was something to behold, the way he kept hitters off-balance and guessing all day was impressive. Kevin Ortiz leads off the bottom of the fourth inning for the Hawks when he reached base on an error by the Bulldog first baseman. The very next batter, Broch Holmes, hit his second dinger of the day to increase the Hawk lead to 3 to 0. The Hawks went on to tack on one more run on the inning, making it 4 to 0 after four innings of play.
Kris Anglin came out for his fifth inning of work and, like he had all game long, shut down the Bulldogs in order. The Hawks did manage to get a couple of batters on base in the bottom of the
fifth but could not push the runs across the plate, leaving the score at 4 to 0 after five.
The sixth inning was rinse and repeat for the young Freshman pitcher as he once again set the Bulldogs down in order with his overpowering stuff. Howard once again got some runners on in their half of the sixth but couldn't figure out a way to have them score, leaving it 4 to 0 after six innings.
The Bulldogs knew they were down to their last at-bat to get something done, but Anglin was still in the game going for a complete game shutout. Clarendon did manage to get a couple of runners on, but Anglin shut the door as quickly as it may have cracked open. Not allowing anything to come close to the plate securing his dominant complete-game shutout over the Bulldogs. Anglin went seven innings, gave up just a single hit, 7 Strikeouts, and only 1 walk. It was definitely a dominant performance by the Hawks ace.
The second game of the day did not go as well as the first game for the Hawks as the Bulldogs repaid the favor and shut them out by a score of 10 to 0. This time it would be the Clarendon arms that shinned, shutting down the Hawks bats.
The third game of this four-game series took place Saturday afternoon, still at the Hawk's home,e field. In this game, they would go on to win 9 to 6.
The game opened up with the Clarendon Bulldogs leading off with a home run to take an early 1 to 0 lead. The Hawks went down in order in the bottom of the first to make the score 1 to 0 after one inning of play.
The Bulldogs started the second inning with a single but then were shut down and failed to score any runs. Hunter Simmons lead the bottom of the second for the Hawks with a hard-hit double. Kevin Ortiz then followed with a single, putting runners on third and first with one out. It was the Broch Holmes stepping into the box and delivering a hard-hit single to drive in Howard's first run of the game and tying it up at one apiece. Kebler Peralta took a walk on the very next at-bat. Charles Defiglia hit a sacrifice pop fly to score another run for the Hawks, giving them the lead at 2 to 1 after two innings.
Clarendon started off the third inning with two straight singles. Clarendon then had a sacrifice fly of their own to tie the game up at 2 to 2. Wilson Galvan oped the inning for the Hawks with a lead-off walk. He was followed by Calogero Paxia, who had a hard-hit single. Hunter Simmons had an RBI single giving the lead right back to the Hawks 3 to 2. The Hawks would roll in the inning, scoring four more runs to bring their lead to 7 to 2.
Both teams would battle back and forth for the remainder of the game, with the Hawks eventually winning out 9 to 6.
The last game of this long four-game set found the Bulldogs beating the Hawks in a very close game 11 to 12, bring the weekend series to a split of 2 games apiece.
Herald Stock Photo