The Prairie du Chien Blackhawks varsity baseball team entered the final week of conference play last week looking to spoil things for the leaders at the top of the conference in Dodgeville and Platteville.
PdC started the week off at Dodgeville last Tuesday, May 19 and were dealt a 7-1 defeat. The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before extending it to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. Both teams added a run to the scoreboard in the fourth inning as the Dodgers upped their lead to 4-1 before adding three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as they held on for the 7-1 win.
Jack Simmons started at pitcher for the Hawks, allowing four runs on five hits and two walks with one strikeout in 3.0 innings pitched before Jacob Mara (three runs allowed on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts in 3.0 innings pitched) finished the game on the mound.
The Hawks offense was held to two hits in the loss, singles by Drake Chesebro (1-for-3 with one run scored) and Mara (1-for-3).
Prairie du Chien was back at home two nights to host Platteville for senior night and the visiting Hillmen wasted no time in building a lead as they scored five first inning runs to go up 5-0 before the Hawks had a chance to bat. PdC would get a run in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 5-1 but the Hillmen answered back with another run of their own in the fourth inning before scoring five more times in the top of the fifth inning.
The Hawks avoided losing via the ten-run rule with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Platteville would add two more runs in the top of the seventh inning as they defeated the Hawks by the score of 13 to 2.
Prestin Nolan (five runs allowed on three hits and one walk in 1.0 inning pitched) got the start at pitcher for Prairie before he was relieved by Cayden Sutter (four runs allowed on two hits and six walks with two strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched) and Chesebro (four runs allowed (one earned) on seven hits and one walk in 2.2 innings pitched).
Leading the Hawks offense was Westin Marx, who went 2-for-3 at the plate. The offense also got base hits from Deacon Chesebro (1-for-4 with a triple and one run scored), Mara (1-for-4 with two RBIs), Nolan (1-for-3 with one run scored) and Sutter (1-for-3).
The Hawks (6-13, 2-8 in the SWC) closed the regular season out last night at Onalaska before beginning postseason play tomorrow in the D3 regional quarterfinals as the 12th seed in their half sectional grouping, They will travel to Riverdale to face the fifth seeded Chieftains in the first game between the two former SWAL rivals since 2007.
