Late game heroics led the Hastings Raiders baseball team past the Titans of Tartan High School on Friday, Hastings winning 8-5 with a seventh inning comeback heard live on KDWA.
The Raiders led 2-0 after a first inning two-run double by Austin Viall, but saw that lead quickly slip away as the Titans scored twice themselves in the bottom of the inning scoring on a passed ball and an RBI single. That tie held until the third inning when a wild-pitch brought in a Tartan run, and gave up another in the fourth after a Raiders error led to a 4-2 deficit. Hastings stranded six runners through the first five innings, and seemingly were out of the game after giving up another run on an error in the sixth inning to trail 5-2 going into a wild seventh inning.
Lukas Niederkorn walked, and after a flyout the bases were loaded after singles by Colton McKnight and Austin Viall, the Raiders got their first run of the inning after Brady Hendrickson got hit by a pitch to make it 5-3. Carter Lundstrom then got an infield single that scored a run, then pinch-hitter Payton Perseke hit a two-run single to put Hastings out in front 6-5. An error, followed by a Cooper Pagel sacrifice fly gave Hastings an 8-5 lead, and Zach Simon pitched the seventh inning giving up a pair of hits but the Raiders defense ended the game on a double play to secure the win.
Niederkorn went 2-3 at the plate, Viall went 3-4 driving in two, and Payton Perseke went 1-2 driving in two while Zach Simon earned the win on the mound. The Raiders end their first week of play 2-1, and play at Mahtomedi on Monday.
The Hastings softball team fell to Farmington 11-1 on Friday. The Raiders are now 2-2 on the season, and will play at Tartan on Tuesday.
Hastings Boys Tennis took down Tartan on Thursday 6-1.
Singles:
No. 1 – Micah Slapnicher, Hastings def. Ethan Gottfried, Tartan, 6-0 , 6-3 , -;
No. 2 – Gus Whitehill Conover, Hastings def. Daniel Thao, Tartan, 6-0 , 6-0 , -;
No. 4 – Jens Kaufman, Hastings def. Alexander Ritland, Tartan, 7-5 , 7-5 , -;
Doubles:
No. 1 – Zac Belford, Hastings – Hunter Belford, Hastings def. Ellis Dick, Tartan – Christopher Eng, Tartan, 6-0 , 6-2 , -;
No. 2 – Tyler Pond, Hastings – Matthew Maulucci, Hastings def. Mateo Reeck, Tartan – Alexander Rusch, Tartan, 7-6 , 6-4 , -;
No. 3 – Jack Daggit, Hastings – Isaac Hamann, Hastings def. Elijah Andrighetti, Tartan – Dylan Whiteis, Tartan, 6-1 , 6-1 , -;