Hartland Eagles Baseball

Hartland 3-10, Milford 2-0 HARTLAND – Gary Turnbull drove in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning of the opener, while Christian Francois sparked the Eagles with a double and a triple in the nightcap. The sweep kept Hartland (7-2, 5-0) in a first-place tie with Grand Blanc in the KLAA West.

Hartland 11, Walled Lake Northern 1

HARTLAND – Alex Wagner tossed a 1-hitter and struck out five in five innings for the Eagles (5-2, 3-0), who pounded out 13 hits and put the game out of reach with six in the fourth.

“I really thought we swung the bat well, especially in the second part of the game,” Hartland coach Brian Morrison said. “We got contributions from a lot of people, which was good to see.”

Five players had two hits apiece for Hartland.

Game #1

Hartland 13 Milford 8

The eagles win game 1!

Game #2

 Hartland 7 Milford 8

In the second game, the Eagles came up short losing 7 – 8!

Hartland 9-18, Wayne 1-3HARTLAND – Marcus Ziebold homered, hit two triples, drove in four runs and was the winning pitcher in the first game for the Eagles, which went five innings.In the nightcap, which ended after the third, the Eagles scored 13 runs in the first inning. Alex Wagner had three doubles among four hits and drove in three runs, while R.J. Bortle tripled twice and drove in three runs for the Eagles (4-2).

“I thought for the most part we played good defense and we continued to swing the bat well,” Hartland coach Brian Morrison said.

 

  http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20140411/SPORTS/304110013/Singer-s-perfect-game-lifts-Hartland-softball-sweep

HARTLAND — Max Cadman had waited for a day like Wednesday, but the Hartland catcher had to deal with a little more adversity first.  His error on a rundown led to two runs in the third inning of the first game, but a bases-loaded triple in the opener and a bases-loaded single in the nightcap gave him five RBIs on the night and a reason to smile as dusk fell on the Hartland High School diamond.

The Eagles (2-2 overall, 2-0 KLAA West) rallied for six runs, including Cadman’s 3-run triple, to win the first game 7-4. The second game ended after six innings with the score tied at 4-4.

If it is ruled a suspended game, the teams will have to get together to play the seventh inning, probably after the Easter break.

“I have no idea,” Hartland coach Brian Morrison said. “I’m waiting on clarification, really.”

The Highlanders (1-6, 0-1), got off to a good start in the first game. In the third inning, Ben Balgaard had a leadoff homer, followed by a single by Darren Ford.  Austin Palo hit a groundball to third that looked to be a fielder’s choice, but the throw was just wide enough that Ford was safe, as was Palo.  Both moved up on James Edwards’ sacrifice. Ford then was caught in a failed squeeze play, but Cadman’s errant throw ended up in left field and both runs scored. The Highlanders added a run on Edwards’ RBI double in the top of the fifth.

The Eagles took over in the bottom of the inning, scoring six times. Brett Oliver reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a double by Alex Vydick.  Alex Wagner walked and Brent Diamond was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Gary Trumbull singled home a run and Cadman chased them all home with a triple to right-center.

“I’ve been waiting for that for a while,” he said. “It was a 2-0 fastball and I hit my pitch.”

The Highlanders, meanwhile, struggled at times. They loaded the bases in the first and fifth innings and had runners at third in the second and seventh, only to strand them all.“You’ve got to execute,” Howell co-coach Jason Ladd said. “They had the bases loaded twice (Wednesday) and Cadman came up with two big hits. Tip your cap to him. That’s what we’ve got to have: Guys stepping up. We’re in position to score a lot of runs, but we can’t get that key hit.”

Hartland took a 4-0 lead in the second game after Cadman’s bases-loaded single to center, coupled with an error by Howell’s Caleb Balgaard, scored all three runs. 

 But the Highlanders responded in the top of the fifth.   Riley Bennett singled, Ben Balgaard walked and Jordan Leyder homered to left.Howell tied it in the sixth when Caleb Balgaard walked and scored on Bennett’s double to the fence in left-center. The game was suspended by darkness after the sixth inning.Howell’s start isn’t what a team that reached the semifinals the last two years was hoping for, prompting a lengthy team meeting afterward.“We’re just not playing with a chip on our shoulder,” said Edwards, who pitched the second game. “That’s the biggest problem right now. We have a lot of guys playing for themselves. But from now on, I guarantee you no team will be pushed harder than this team is going to be.”

Morrison says that, at least for his team, getting on the field is key, which led in part to today’s doubleheader at home against Wayne.“I think we’ve just got to play,” he said. “We’ve got to be out there. I thought mentally we had a nice game (Wednesday). We had ups and downs and fought through them, and so did they.”