Hawks finds motivation, comes through for Plant

By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

February 26, 2022

TAMPA – After taking a strike three call in his first at-bat, Plant’s Michael Hawks was lifted in his next time up at the plate in a bases loaded opportunity – the moment admittedly caught the junior’s attention.

“I’ve been having a little bit of a struggle, and the early at-bat was … I don’t know,” Hawks said. “There was a little bit of aggression up there (on the next one).”

Following his reentry into the game to resume his role defensively at shortstop, Hawks did not let his next opportunity at the plate pass him by. Instead, he sent a double soaring into centerfield, driving in Robert Satin (2-for-3, RBI) to give plant the edge needed to defeat Seminole Osceola, 3-2 in Friday’s early game at Jesuit in the 813Preps Bay Bash.

“I sat back on a curveball perfectly, hit it deep and drove in a run,” Hawks said. “That is going to give me a little bit of confidence.”

Plant (2-1) coach Dennis Braun said he was happy his shortstop found some motivation in the move.

“He’s probably a little mad at me,” Braun said, smiling with Hawks within earshot. “I hit for him, but maybe some of that anger came out there. We needed some more contact, and boy, we got it.”

Senior lefty Ben Saltzman worked around four hits, allowing just one run for Plant, while his counterpart for the Warriors, Luke Percifield struck out six, while allowing four hits and two runs (one earned) – neither factoring in the final decision.

Osceola (0-3) junior Gavin Tuttle gave the Warriors a short-lived lead with an RBI sac fly in the fourth, and later tied the game in the top of the sixth with a second productive fly ball.

But Plant responded in the home-half with Conley Strayer doubling to center, followed by an RBI single to center from Satin.

After a clean fifth inning of relief from sophomore Tanner Swank, the panthers turned to Thomas Bolton for his second appearance on the mound and the senior worked the final two frames, striking out a pair and improving to 2-0 on the season.

“He’s that kid that we count on,” Braun said of Bolton. “We didn’t really want to use him again today, thought maybe it was a little early. But it was his bullpen day, so I thought we could get 30 pitches from him.

“It was great to see him do that, because we are going to need him to do that for us during the year.”

CJ Thornton took the loss in relief for the Warriors, allowing one run on two hits with a pair of strikeouts. Thornton also had a pair of hits, doubled, stole a base and scored a run for Osceola on offense; Nick Fitzpatrick also had a double for the Warriors.

Braun said he was pleased the game was a back-and-forth battle, admittedly entering the contest concerned his team might come out flat after falling to Jesuit in a walk-off, 4-3 loss on Wednesday.

“I think Osceola did a nice job of grinding it out,” Braun said. “We are going to have to be a grind-it-out team this year, so a game like this is really going to help – especially with how many one-run games we lost last year.

“We’ve already had two close one here, early so coming out after an emotional one (against Jesuit), this was good to see.”

Plant travels to Blake on Tuesday, while Osceola goes on the road next week to face Pasco.

Plant 3
Osceola 2

O 000|101|0 – |2|6|2
P 000|201|x – |3|6|0
W – Bolton (2-0); L – Thornton (0-1).
2B – Fitzpatrick, Thornton, O’Brien (O); Co. Strayer, Hawks (P). Records – O (0-3); P (2-1).