SOUTH WAYNE – The runs have been piling up for the Black Hawk Warriors baseball team and now so are the victories after splitting four games at home against Six Rivers’ foes over the past week.
    After going nearly two years between conference victories prior to their win over Argyle on April 25, the Warriors (4-8 overall, 3-6 SRC) only had to wait days to post two more league wins to match their Six Rivers’ win total from the past three seasons.
    Following a tough 19-4 loss to Barneveld on Tuesday, May 2, the Warriors split a high-scoring doubleheader against Cassville, winning game one 19-17 and falling in game two 9-8, on Friday, May 5, and then outlasted Monticello, 13-9, in a Six Rivers East showdown on Monday, May 8.
    Black Hawk held a 4-2 lead after four innings were complete in Tuesday’s game with Barneveld, but the Golden Eagles exploded for 17 runs in the top of the fifth inning to grab control of the game. Rece Shelton went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored for the Warriors, while Brody Milz drove in two runs for the hosts.
    The runs kept coming in bunches in Friday’s twinbill. The Warriors struck first with an 11-run rally in the home-half of the first inning to erase an early 1-0 deficit, but the Comets answered back with a 13-run outburst of their own in the top of the third inning to snag a 14-11 lead.
    Black Hawk scored three times in the third and fourth frames to regain the lead, and then added key insurance runs in the fifth and sixth stanzas to hold off the Comets in the conference clash.
    However, the Warriors were unable to hold off the Comets in the non-conference nightcap. After Black Hawk grabbed an 8-6 lead in the top of the sixth, the Comets struck for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 9-8. The Warriors put the tying run on base in the top of the seventh, but Cassville pitcher Mason Infield recorded back-to-back strikeouts to preserve the win and earn the split.
    Josh Meier went 4-for-4 with four runs scored and three RBI in game one and he added two RBI in game two. Shelton scored four times for the Warriors in game one and three times in game two, while Jason Treuthardt tallied two runs and a RBI in game one and went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI in game two.
    B. Milz had a double with three RBI and three runs scored in the opener. Jett Rufenacht went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, and Jayden Stietz scored two runs and had a RBI.
    In the nightcap, Avery Baumgartner had a double and scored twice for the Warriors.
    Finally, at home on Monday, the Warriors’ offense came alive once again as they banged out 12 hits en route to a 13-9 victory over the Monticello Ponies.
    Black Hawk plated runs in five of their six turns at-bat, scoring four times in the bottom of the first inning to take the lead for good before pulling away with three runs in the fifth frame and four more in the sixth.
    Stietz was 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored to lead the way for the Warriors. Rufenacht went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run, and Shelton went 2-for-4 with two runs and a RBI. Meier doubled and drove in three runs, while Cayden Milz and Treuthardt tallied two RBI apiece. Baumgartner, B. Milz and Brandon Schiferl each scored twice for the hosts.
     Black Hawk has a Six Rivers crossover doubleheader against Shullsburg/Benton at Shullsburg’s Badger Park on Friday, May 12, starting at 4:30 p.m.; and the Warriors have SRE game at Argyle on Tuesday, May 16, beginning at 5 p.m.
 
Barneveld…… 101  0(17) – 19  7  1
Black Hawk…….. 004  00 –   4  5  3
Leading Hitters: Josh Meier 2x3. 2B- Meier.
WP- Avery Baumgartner. LP- Godfrey.
At South Wayne, on Tuesday, May 2
 
GAME ONE
Cassville……. 10(13)  102  0 – 17  11  9
Black Hawk… (11)03  311  x – 19  11  4
Leading Hitters: Josh Meier 4x4, Jett Rufenacht 3x5. 2B- Brody Milz.
WP- Jayden Stietz. LP- Kinyon. S- Noah Metz.
 
GAME TWO
Black Hawk… 001  052  0 – 8  5  3
Cassville……. 103  023  x – 9  8  5
Leading Hitters: Jason Treuthardt 2x3. 2B- Avery Baumgartner.
WP- Infield. LP- Noah Metz.
At South Wayne, on Friday, May 5
 
Monticello….. 102  011  4 –   9    6  2
Black Hawk… 401  134  x – 13  12  2
Leading Hitters: Rece Shelton 2x4, Jett Rufenacht 2x4, Jayden Stietz 3x4. 2B- Josh Meier, Jett Rufenacht.
WP- Brandon Schiferl. LP- McCoy.