H-M-S can't close door against Remsen St. Mary's
District tourney loss ends baseball season
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MIKE PETERSEN/SENTINEL-NEWS
Shortstop Keaton Graves will win the race to the bag to retire St. Mary's Levi Waldschmitt in the district opener on Saturday.
Remsen St. Mary's did everything necessary to hand Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn a 12-0 loss in the first round of the Class 1A district baseball tournament July 11 at Remsen.
The No. 2 team in the Iowa Baseball Coaches Association's rankings combined a perfect game on the mound with a potent offense that capitalized on every opportunity.
"Overall we competed, but it was not enough to beat a team like that," Hawk coach Jeremy Gloden said. "Defensively we were a little timid at times and made some mistakes. Unfortunately we did not play perfect baseball and they took advantage of it."
In the first inning St. Mary's scored two early runs before a pair of H-M-S errors led to three more runs.
"We had a chance to get out of it 0-0 or 2-0, but we couldn't close the door," Gloden said.
St. Mary's extended its lead to 8-0 the next inning and scored twice in the final two innings.
Hawk pitcher Sam Heyn gave up 11 hits, walked two and struck out two.
"He gave us numerous chances to stay in the game," Gloden said.
Carter Schorg, who pitched a one-hitter in the teams' regular season matchup, struck out eight of the 15 H-M-S batters he faced.
"He threw 11 balls in five innings. You don't see that a lot from a high school pitcher," Gloden noted. "We had some good swings, but we couldn't make contact."
MIKE PETERSEN/SENTINEL-NEWS
Ben Haack's unusual throwing position doesn't prevent him from getting the ball to Samuel Haack in order to retire a St. Mary's runner at first base.
• Improvement during season
H-M-S ends the 2020 campaign with a record of 2-11. Despite the low win total, Gloden feels the Hawks made strides during the abbreviated season.
"It did not always show on the field, but we improved. We got better," he said. "The guys had great attitudes and never got down on themselves."
Samuel Haack was the Hawks' only senior.
"He was our vocal leader and kept everybody up and motivated," Gloden said. "He really stepped up and I appreciate it."
Gloden is already looking forward to 2021. He hopes the offseason will be normal so the players can focus on skill development in various phases of the game.