The Hawks played a three-game series against the Modesto Junior College Pirates winning the second game of the series 6-5 on March 27 before heading into their bye week.
The Hawks scored the first run of the game but the Pirates quickly caught up in the third inning making the score 2-1. With the score tied in the ninth inning, sophomore catcher Noah Canter hit a homerun for a walk off win.
The Hawks did a lot of talking and started to get more work in before practice and games after losing to the Pirates on March 25, said sophomore center fielder Chase Christenson.
“We kind of just knew that this game was either going to make or break our season and luckily we got the dub and we can just go forward from there,” Christenson said.
Sophomore pitcher Darryl Johnson was brought in during the third inning, after sophomore pitcher Andrew Lockhart was pulled out during the second inning. The score was 4-2 with the Pirates ahead when Johnson was done pitching in the seventh.
Sophomore pitcher Noah Meaux came into the game during the eighth inning with the Hawks down two runs. He faced 13 batters, had six strikeouts and allowed one run in the three innings he pitched.
“Noah is one of the most mentally tough players we’ve seen,” pitching coach Preston Vancil said. “So the timeouts I called were specifically to break the tempo of the other team, not to strategize defensively.”
In the top of the ninth, Pirates freshman Ny’Zaiah Thompson stole home, but the Hawks came back and scored in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game due to a triple by sophomore shortstop Brayden Murua, he scored two, and a single by sophomore pinch hitter Ben Pernetti, scored one.
“Take it one pitch at a time, one guy at a time, keep passing the sticks, keep working the count and don’t give in,” Canter said. “We battled back, we faced a little adversity, and we ultimately came out on top.”
The game played a total of ten innings after the Hawks tied the game in the ninth. Canter led off the bottom of the tenth hitting a homerun to solidify their win against the Pirates.
The Hawks lost to the Pirates 3-2 on March 28. They have a bye week this week and will return to play San Joaquin Delta College on Tuesday at 2 p.m. on the Hawks’ home field. Their conference record is now standing at 5-10, with a 16-13 overall record.
They are taking the week to refocus and go on a run with their next few games coming up and make the playoffs, said freshman second baseman Alan Quirarte-Guzman.