March 12th, 2025 In a cold and windy game, the Hawks beat Lake County 6-4 in their first home opener win in 13 years. They improved to 6-1, and have showcased their versatility thus far with this defensively dominant game.

In a game with only 7 combined hits between the teams, the Hawks’ pitching and base running made the difference. 5 Hawks pitchers gave up two hits the entire day, while striking out 6. Zach Zalewski started and performed well, giving up zero earned runs and striking out 4, eventually picking up the win in 5 innings of work. 

Danny Broeker was the 5th and final pitcher for the Hawks. He was given the save opportunity and dominated the situation. The 9th inning save only took 9 pitches and one strikeout that led the way for the Hawks to closethe door on Lake County.

Offensively, the Hawks made their noise on the base paths. Having only 5 hits on the entire day, they made up for it with 8 stolen bases, which caused Lake County to throw the ball around the field at times. 

The Hawks biggest offensive inning came in the 3rd, when a double steal by Michael Mango and Nick Drtina allowed Mango to score on a throwing error. 

Spencer Geake then doubled on a beautiful 2 strike swing down the left field line, scoring Drtina and Joey Glozier. Anthony Milano followed that up on a single to right field, allowing Geake to score and giving the Hawks a 4-0 lead. The Hawks scored 2 more runs in the 5th to make it 6-1, which was all the run support they needed. 

In a sloppy game where the Hawks had 5 errors and Lake County had 3, the Hawks battled through to earn their 6th win of the season. 

They will play Lake County in a rematch on Wednesday, March 19th, and look to continue their hot start to the season.