ROME- The Shorter Hawks made their first appearance back at home for a conference series after two weekends in Virginia and North Carolina to face Erskine in game one on Friday. Though Shorter took an early lead, they were unable to hold on and fell in a 5-2 loss in game one.
 

Game one started quietly until Wilmer Henriquez opened the door with a solo shot in the third, his 11th of the year. Two innings later, Erskine would counter with a pair of solo homers, and then tacked on two more in the eighth on a two-run double. They chipped in another run in the top of the ninth to make it a 5-1 ballgame, before Cameron Adams scored Reece Newberry on a sacrifice fly. This would be the last run scored by the Hawks, however, and Shorter would drop the contest in a 5-2 final.

 

Despite the loss, Logan Bryson put on his best performance of the season so far, with seven innings of pristine pitching. He collected a team-high nine strikeouts with an astounding zero walks. Grayson Goss and Evan Joiner both threw three more combined punchouts, totalling 13 for the Hawks on the mound.
 

"I couldn't ask Logan to do anything more," Head Coach Wes Timmons remarked, "Really, two weekends in a row where he's had an opportunity to start and kept us in the game. When you pitch well enough to win, and don't, it ultimately falls on the hitters. We had baserunners everywhere and couldn't come through."
 

UP NEXT

The Hawks look to even the series or even walk out of the weekend with a series win in games two and three tomorrow. Game two is slated to begin at 12:00 p.m. EST, with game three to follow at 3:00 p.m. EST. All games will be streamed on the Conference Carolinas Digital Network. 
 

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