The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News - Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties

The Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn baseball team showed signs of improvement during the 2023 season, but was unable to win more games. The Hawks finished with a 5-16 overall record, which is similar to their 2022 mark. However, H-M-S slipped to 1-9 in War Eagle Conference play.

Statistically, the team showed improvement in pitching and defense, but did not hit the baseball as well.

Four seniors end their careers after contributing in many ways to the program. The number of varsity games they played are: Trenton Vollink 75, Tyson Tessum 61, Ethan Diehm 48, and Tanner Tesch 44.

This season is also the last for Hawk coach Jeremy Gloden. After four years as head coach, he has decided to step away from the program.

"It will be strange not being in the dugout next summer after nine total seasons," he posted on the team's Facebook page, "but I am looking forward to a new chapter and spending more time with my family."

The following are the individual and team statistics for the 2023 season.

• Hitting

Hits: Bradley Van Beek 16, Jacob Cates, Tanner Tesch, Trenton Vollink 15, Evan Eilers 10, Tyson Tessum 9, Blake Meendering 8, Jack Mastbergen 6, Aiden Bush, Ben Waddell 2, Josh Cruz, Ethan Diehm 1.

Doubles: Cates 7, Eilers, Meendering 3, Tesch, Van Beek, Vollink 2, Mastbergen, Tessum 1.

Triple: Tessum 1.

Home Runs: Van Beek 1.

Runs Scored: Tesch 12, Vollink 11, Bush, Tessum 9, Cates, Meendering 6, Diehm, Van Beek, Waddell 4, Eilers, Mastbergen 2, Cruz 1.

Runs Batted In: Tesch, Van Beek 10, Cates 7, Vollink 6, Meendering 5, Eilers 4, Mastbergen, Tessum 3, Bush, Cruz, Diehm, Waddell 1.

Sacrifices: Diehm 2, Bush 1.

Sacrifice Flies: Bush 1.

Walks: Cates 13, Mastbergen 11, Vollink 10, Tessum, Van Beek 8, Eilers 5, Meendering 4, Diehm 3, Tesch, Waddell 2, Bush, Cruz 1.

Hit by Pitch: Cates 4, Tesch, Waddell 2, Diehm, Tessum 1.

Stolen Bases: Vollink 10, Tessum 9, Diehm 5, Cates 3, Bush 2, Eilers, Mastbergen, Jafet Ortiz, Tesch, Waddell 1.

Batting Average: Cates .294, Bush, Van Beek .286, Vollink .234, Tesch .231, Eilers .179, Meendering .178, Waddell .167, Tessum .141, Mastbergen .140, Cruz .071, Diehm .032.

• Pitching

Cates: 8 games pitched, 8 started, 4-4 record, 42.0 innings, 200 opponents at-bats, .145 batting average against, 29 hits, 36 runs, 20 earned runs, 29 walks, 11 hit batters, 80 strikeouts, 3.33 earned run average, 1.38 walks/hits per inning.

Tessum: 12 GP, 6 GS, 1-5 record, 1 save, 36.1 inn., 198 OAB, .232 BAA, 46 H, 38 R, 24 ER, 27 BB, 10 HB, 40 K, 4.62 ERA, 2.01 WHIP.

Tesch: 9 GP, 4 GS, 0-5 record, 29.0 inn., 163 OAB, .282 BAA, 46 H, 50 R, 30 ER, 18 BB, 9 HB, 26 K, 7.24 ERA, 2.21 WHIP.

Eilers: 11 GP, 2 GS, 0-1 record, 21.1 inn., 111 OAB, .216 BAA, 24 H, 23 R, 16 ER, 18 BB, 3 HB, 19 K, 5.25 ERA, 1.97 WHIP.

Vollink: 2 GP, 1 GS, 0-1 record, 0.2 inn., 11 OAB, .364 BAA, 4 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 1 HB, 1 K, 84.00 ERA, 12.00 WHIP.

Bush: 1 GP, 0 GS, 0-0 record, 0.1 inn., 4 OAB, .500 BAA, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 HB, 0 K, 0.00 ERA, 6.00 WHIP.

• Team totals

Batting: 508 at-bats, 70 runs, 100 hits, 77 singles, 21 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 52 runs batted in, 3 sacrifices, 1 sacrifice fly, 68 walks, 10 hit by pitch, 18 reached on errors, 207 strikeouts, .197 average, .303 on-base percentage, .248 slugging percentage.

Base running: 34 steals, 38 attempts, 126 total bases.

Fielding: 126 assists, 389 putouts, 70 errors, 585 total chances, .880 fielding percentage, 10 thrown out stealing, 39 stolen base attempts.

Pitching: 129.2 innings, 687 OAB, .220 BAA, 151 hits, 157 runs, 98 earned runs, 96 walks, 34 hit batters, 166 strikeouts, 5.29 ERA, 1.91 WHIP.