Holland Public Schools

The Holland Dutch hosted the Hamilton Hawkeyes Tuesday afternoon for a conference doubleheader and were unable to keep the Hawkeye bats at bay. In game one, the Hawkeyes got off to a scorching start after a first pitch groundout. After the second batter was hit by a pitch, they rattled off six straight hits before the next out was recorded. The Dutch found themselves in an 8-0 hole after the top of the first, but only allowed two more runs the remainder of the game. The Dutch put together six hits, but weren't quite able to come up with the timely ones to push runs across the plate. Senior Cody Rozema was the leader at the plate, going 2-3 with a run scored. Fellow Senior Robby Wiersma came up with the hit to push Rozema across for the Dutch's lone run. Sophomore Asher Folkert was 1-3 with a double, Senior Gabe Bos was 1-3, and Junior Xavier Murphy was 1-2 with a walk. Junior Jay Cantu upped his OBP to a team-leading .458 with two more walks. On the mound, Senior Peyton Lehman settled in after a rough first inning to pitch six innings, allowing seven earned on 11 hits while striking out three. Junior Damian Arispe made his first mound appearance, pitching a scoreless seventh inning by striking out three and walking two. Game two started much like game one, with the Hawkeyes getting off to a hot start by taking advantage of free bases. After three at-bats, the Hawkeyes led 7-0. The Dutch answered with two runs in the bottom of the third, but were unable to score again after that. The Hawkeyes put one on the board the next three innings to make the score 10-2 before the game was called due to darkness in the sixth. The Dutch put together four hits from four different players - a triple by Junior Tanner Kingery, a double by Sophomore Ethan Byrd, and a single each from Senior Jacob Torres and Senior Gabe Bos. Torres had an RBI and a walk as well. Senior Abel Walkotten made his first start on the mound, going three innings and allowing seven earned on four hits and six walks. He struck out one. Byrd followed that up with two innings, allowing one earned on two hits and four walks, while striking out three. Junior Jay Cantu cleaned up the final inning, allowing one earned on one hit and a walk, while striking out one. The Dutch fell to 2-11 and 1-10 in the OK Black. They visit Hamilton on Wednesday, April 30 at 4:15 PM to finish off the conference series.