Baseball Gets the Walk-Off Win Over Thomas
Auburndale, FL – It’s very rare to get pitching duals to break out in a Hastings College baseball game but one broke out between the Broncos and Thomas (GA) on Saturday down at the RussMatt Invitational. Hastings would eventually win the game 1-0 to improve to 2-1 at the RussMatt. The last time the Broncos won a game 1-0 was against Mount Marty back in April of 2021.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
Auburndale, FL – It's very rare to get pitching duals to break out in a Hastings College baseball game but one broke out between the Broncos and Thomas (GA) on Saturday down at the RussMatt Invitational. Hastings would eventually win the game 1-0 to improve to 2-1 at the RussMatt. The last time the Broncos won a game 1-0 was against Mount Marty back in April of 2021.
The Broncos certainly faced plenty of adversity as James Velasquez had to work out of quite a few jams to keep the Night Hawks off the scoreboard.
Velasquez faced a second and third with two outs but would strikeout Bradley Fleenor in the first inning. Thomas would load the bases in the third inning but Velasquez would get Matthew Williams to fly out to keep the goose egg on the board.
The Hastings' bats just couldn't string enough hits to get the offense going but Velasquez kept battling.
Thomas looked to threaten again in the fifth getting runners on first and second but Velasquez coaxed a double play out of Fleenor to end that threat. Again, the Night Hawks loaded the bases in the seventh but the same script played out as Velasquez got Williams to ground out to Matt Lucero at short ending yet another threat. Velasquez was able to work around a two out double getting Jean Pool-Checo to pop out to Lucero as the game remained scoreless.
Alec Fichter came in to relieve Velasquez as hit pitch count was pushing 120 pitches. Fichter worked a perfect ninth inning and left it up to the offense to get the job done.
Dylan Otto reached base following an error with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Lucero got a hold of one but hit a liner right to the left fielder. Tristan Martinez came up big with a two out single to right to keep the inning alive. Then Jace Valdez singled to left bringing home Otto for the walk-off victory for the Broncos.
Velasquez went 8.0 innings giving up no runs while scattering seven hits. He struck out five but ended with a no decision. Valdez and Martinez led the way at the plate for Hastings as both finished with two hits.
Hastings is now 5-10 on the year and will be back in action Sunday Mar. 12 continuing its play down at the RussMatt Invitational and will take on Aquinas (MI) bright and early at 8:00 am in Lakeland, FL.
