RIVER FALLS – The Hastings Hawks came to First National Bank of River Falls Stadium on Friday night to take on the River Falls Fighting Fish in exhibition action. The night started with young ladies from the River Falls youth softball association throwing out some first pitches in front of a packed house.

Charley Griffin got the start on the bump for the Fish. Griffin had a decent first inning, walking one, striking out one and getting the third batter to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Hastings starter Ben Bundschu stymied the Fish in the first inning as well.

The second inning had a little more action; Hastings managed to get their first two batters on base, then a wild pitch from Griffin put both runners in scoring position with no outs. Grifin settled down nicely and got the next three batters out allowing no runs. The Fish seemed to mimic the Hawks with five batters appearing in the second, two getting on base and then being stranded with two quick outs to end the inning.

The third inning saw the first scoring of the game. The Hawks took an early two-run lead but the Fish got one right back in the bottom of the third. The fourth was over quickly and the fifth saw the Hawks regain the two-run lead. That is when the dam broke, and the Fish took over. Hastings made a pitching change to Isaac Flynn and the feeding frenzy was on.

Leadoff batter Brian Giebel hit a double to left center, Trey Larson reached on a fielder’s choice when he hit a grounder to short and the shortstop Blake Werner attempted to get the lead runner heading to third. The third baseman, Patrick Rough dropped the ball for an error, allowing Giebel to reach safely. Ty Denzer was walked, loading the bases for Jaxin Larsen. Larson hit a single to left scoring Giebel. Former Hawks Spencer Diedrich hit a hard fly ball to left center for a double scoring both Trey Larson and Denzer. Carter Elliot smashed one to center scoring Jaxin Larsen and Diedrich and that is where the Fish were caught. River Falls scored five runs to take the 6-3 lead.

The Hawks could not manufacture another run the rest of the game. Carter Elliot took over for Griffin in the eighth inning and the Fish tacked on one insurance run in the eighth to finish the game 7-3 and earn another win on the season.

For more information on Fish baseball including stats, results and schedule, visit fishbaseball. org.

Photo by Bruce Karnick