By: Brendan Bowlin

South Kingstown, RI – The Nighthawks, behind the double-digit hit offense and the stellar pitching, downed the Ocean State Waves 7-4 in the Hawks’ first inter-division matchup of the season. “Overall, a really good win,” was the word of Nighthawks’ skipper Mat Pause. The offense produced its fourth double-digit hit performance of the season. ‘We’ve been building all year on having good at-bats, and the guys are going up there and knowing what to look for,” Pause noted on the offense. 

The Nighthawks would start things off early in the top of the first, a 94-degree, 6:30 PM first pitch at Old Mountain Field. Brotz would collect a leadoff single, and was quickly followed by a Cole Fellows walk. Anthony Greco would be the knock that drove in Brotz, who stole third on the first pitch of Spanier’s at-bat. Greco would hit a sharp drive into center that would easily score Brotz. Preisano would unfortunately ground into a double play to end the top frame. 

The boys in blue weren’t done yet; however, they picked up where they left off in the second. Nick Shuhet had a hard ground ball to short that would be ruled a single on the play. Ryan MacDougall, who got the start behind the dish today, would have a six-pitch battle that resulted in an opposite field homerun, the fifth Nighthawks homerun of the season. His homerun went 321 feet and went 97 mph off the bat. “I hit the sweet spot of the bat, but had a bit of late timing. I went more up on my swing instead of staying level, but I knew I hit it good,” MacDougall told me after his home run. Nick Monile would walk with one out, it was quickly followed by yet another single from A.J. Brotz, and then the Golden Gopher Jack Spanier had a double that brought in the third run of the Nighthawks’ second. The Nighthawks would lead 4-0 after two. 

It was still the Nighthawks’ bats stealing the show in the fourth, Cooper Blauser and Nick Monile would both walk to put two aboard early. After Ocean State responded with two quick outs, Jack Spanier would hit a ground ball to Waves’ second baseman Sam Siedel, who slipped on the field and would have an awkward throw to Kayle Pisano that was out of his reach. Cooper Blauser would score on that error and tack on the Nighthawks’ fifth run of the evening. 

The Bottom of the fifth was the last runs the Nighthawks would plate. Nick Shuhet would deliver a huge one-out single, and he was quickly moved over as MacDougall would be plunked in his plate appearance. Blauser would battle for a walk and load the bases. Nick Monile would battle for ten pitches and manage to draw a walk, and as a result, Shuhet would come in. Brotz battled for nine pitches against Waves’ reliever JT Weaver, but would collect his third single of the evening, which drove in Ryan MacDougall. AJ had his second multi-hit game in as little as three days this week, which he similarly replicated his 3-for-5 day at North Adams. Brotz noted, “I’ve just been sticking to my approach, my teammates are always behind me cheering me on and letting me know what the pitcher’s stuff looks like, but again, I’m just sticking to my approach and seeing the ball really well.” The Nighthawks had taken a commanding 7-0 lead.

The zero on the scoreboard was held dominantly by future Lope, JT Guerrero, who notched yet another 5-inning performance. The week two pitcher of the week held Ocean State to just one hit through four and a third of an inning. He had seven strikeouts after getting the leadoff batter in Brandyn Durand, to start the bottom half of the fifth. “I felt good, the offense did a really good job putting the pressure on early, defense made a lot of plays, and I just kept attacking,” Guerrero mentioned to me after his start. It would suddenly take a turn after giving up back-to-back walks to Matthew Brinker and Kayle Pisano to put two aboard. Justin Hackett would step into the box next for Ocean State, and although Guerrero would get ahead on two strikes, Hackett would send a blast over the wall to finally break through for Ocean State. Although Guerrero would give up his first home run, he would strike out the last two batters to hold the damage to three for the Waves. JT finished with 9 strikeouts on the night, just one shy of back-to-back 10-strikeout starts. “I just had to go back and attack the zone and trust my defense behind me. Felt like I had six in the tank, but I trusted the staff behind me to finish the job,” Guerrero said after the game. 

Hackett once again would homer, this time on the fourth pitch he saw from Nighthawks’ reliever JC Franconere. That would be the third and final hit of the night for the Waves, as neither team would budge offensively.
 

Mateo Wells would finish things off for the Nighthawks as he downed the Waves to end the ballgame. The win put the Nighthawks back to two games above .500 at 8-6, keeping their distance from third-place Vermont, who sit three and a half games behind the Nighthawks. Ocean State would fall to .500 and currently sit 7-7; they remain fifth in the South Division. 

JT Guerrero would earn his third straight win of the season. In his second straight five-inning start, he would allow only three earned runs on two hits. He gave up three walks, but struck out nine batters. Guerrero now leads the NECBL with 21 strikeouts. 

Arizona product Michael Hilker Jr. earned the loss in his first start with the Waves. He would go three innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits with two walks and 3 strikeouts. 

The Nighthawks return home on Thursday, June 26th, for a doubleheader against the Mystic Schooners (weather permitting). The first pitch of game one will be at 4:00 PM, with Ryan Sheehy to take the bump for game one. Game two will follow after a 30-minute intermission. Aaron Potter is to start in game two.