By: Tyler Milton

Humber Athletics

LONDON, Ont -- The start of their longest road trip of the season, the Humber Baseball team played Fanshawe College on Saturday afternoon. Coming in on a five-game winning streak, Humber looked to continue their winning ways. Unfortunately, for the Hawks, they would get off on the wrong foot, dropping both to the Falcons in close, one-run games.

Fanshawe 4 Humber 3
Another game, another good outing by a Humber starter on the bump. Head coach Denny Berni looked to Dylan Perego to continue the Hawks' win streak and extend it to six. Perego would do his part, tossing six innings allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits, and three strikeouts. Perego did a good job of mixing his speeds and working well with battery mate Justin Marra. Unfortunately for Perego and the Hawks, his one bad inning (the third inning) would end up costing them in this one.

The Hawks' bats in this were relatively quiet, scattering seven hits throughout the game but not getting a key knock when needed to really break the game open. Keegan Murphy led the way for the offence with two hits and driving in two in the losing effort. Max Elofson collected the other RBI on a bases-loaded walk in the sixth. In all, the Hawks left eight runners on base.

Fanshawe 3 Humber 2
Looking to get back on the right foot, Humber turned to right-hander Tyler Greenwood to get the Hawks back into the win column and secure a season-series win over Fanshawe. Greenwood toed the rubber for his first start of the season, and would not disappoint. Over his six innings of masterful work, he allowed two runs (both earned) on six hits, two walks and five punch outs.

Although Greenwood was dominant in many innings, he struggled with the middle of the Fanshawe order. The two, three, four hitters for the Falcons went 1-3 with two RBIs and four hit by pitches. After the Hawks tied it up in the top of the seventh, Humber turned to Jake Linhares for the final three outs and to push it to extras. A hit and a hit by pitch would put Linhares in a hole early and it would come back to bite the Hawks as the winning run scored in the bottom half of the seventh.

Another poor showing for the offence puts another great effort on the bump to waste. The Hawks bats were silent for the first three innings not collecting a hit. Again, Humber struggled with runners on as they stranded four runners who were on second base. The key hit was lacking until the seventh inning. Pinch-hitter, Brandon Manley got the Hawks started with a walk. Manley stole second, before Hunter Bisser roped a RBI double to the gap, plating Manley. Bisser was lifted for the former infielder, turned pitcher Matt Stoddart. Stoddart would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt by Aaron Arbic-Cohen before being driven in on a sacrifice fly by Liam Sutherland.

Hawks Notes

- Keegan Murphy becomes the all-time RBI leader for the Hawks with 39 in his career.

- With the sweep, Hawks drop to 6-4 on the season.

- Dylan Perego continues to have tough luck on the bump, with the offence averaging just over 1.5 runs per game in his starts.