Baseball Road to Regionals
Not to be outdone, Hawk Baseball took notes from Hawk Softball and punched their ticket to the postseason this past weekend, with a four-game sweep of New Mexico Military Institute in the Hawks' final home stand of the 2023-24 season.
A bittersweet weekend for sure, as both sports celebrated their graduating sophomores and those players who will be departing, as well as winning 4 games, thus earning their spot in this year's Regional Tournament. The long season concluded with an incredible ceremony honoring our upperclassmen who will be graduating as well as those other players who will be transferring to different schools to continue their journey. The Hawks will be losing 15 players after the season, but don't fret just yet, as this last home-stand of the year yielded 4 victories in as many games and a play-off berth to boot.
On their path to The Regional Tournament, The Hawks finished the season with an impressive 32-19 (.627) overall record and finished 21-15 (.583) within one of the most competitive conferences in the country (The WJCAC.) The most incredible stat of the season however may be their record at home in Big Spring as the Hawks finished at a mind-blowing 17-3 at Big Spring Refinery Ballpark. A true testament to the fans and community support as Baseball was nearly invincible at home. The Hawks longest win streak of the year stood at 7 games which was no easy feat given the conference and region. If someone were to summarize this season in a single word, 'Bombs' would be a good place to start.
The Hawks made their money this year with big bats and overwhelming offense. Plate discipline, pitch analysis, smart base running and both big and small ball play helped them amass some of the best offensive stats in both the region and their conference. With FEWER at bats than nearly all of the teams in front of them the Hawks were:
4th in Region 5 in Runs at 310.
4th in the region in hits at 365.
4th in the region in Home Runs at 49
3rd in the region in RBI's at 279
4th in the region in SLG% at .573
4th in the region in XBH at 211
Additionally, during the week of April 16th, Howard had dual Players of the Week in Cam Diaz and Lee Matsuzaki. Like West Texas Native Greg Maddux says, "Chicks dig the long ball."
The Regional Tournament will be held May 10-14th in Waco, TX at McClinton Field at Bosque River Ballpark, McLennan Community College with The Hawks first game on Friday, May 10 at 7:00pm VS McLennan.
For more information on the tournament, bracket, seedings and times visit https://njcaaregion5.com/information/championship_info.
For the live stream of the games visit: https://www.centexsportsnetwork.com/news/njcaa-region-5-tournament.