Hawks Stay Hot, Win Eighth Straight

Becker homered in the game, and Kiesel preserved the win for the Hawks. (Jim Cummins)

Box Score

PALATINE, Ill. – Trailing 3-2 in the sixth inning against South Suburban, the Harper baseball team scored runs in the sixth and seventh innings to take a lead, and they held on for a 4-3 victory and their eighth straight win.

The Bulldogs (11-13) opened the scoring with two runs in the first off Harper starter Mickey Wazorick (Rolling Meadows, Ill./Rolling Meadows). Hawks' third baseman Kurt Becker (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) hit his second homer of the year in the bottom half to cut the deficit to 2-1. South Suburban scored again in the fifth on a Stephen Letz single, but the Hawks (10-6) made it 3-2 on a defensive blunder by the Bulldogs.

Harper catcher Zach Jones (/Maine South)' sac fly in the sixth inning scored Theo Yfantis (Prospect Heights, Ill./Wheeling) and tied the game. Chris Elliot's no-out RBI groundout in the bottom of the seventh gave the Hawks their first lead of the game.

Wazorick (2-1) was replaced by Brent Kiesel (Streamwood, Ill./Streamwood) in the eighth inning with the Hawks nursing a 4-3 lead.  Kiesel allowed a hit, walk, and hit batter in two innings of work but got Dominic Albanese to strike out swinging to pick up his first save of the year and give the Hawks the win.