Hermsen helped his own cause in the Hawks first at bat with a long home run to left center field.
Teammate Justin Gideon followed Hermsen’s home run with one of his own in his first at bat as a West Delaware Hawk.

The Hawks put the game out of reach with a six-run third inning.

Tony Marbach led off the third and reached base on a Jesup error. Consecutive hits by Alex Ryan, Chris Harbaugh and Zach McCool plated three runs. Phil Kepler drove in McCool with an RBI single and later scored on a passed ball to give the Hawks an early 10-0 lead.

The Hawks ended the game in the fourth inning with Zach McCool getting an RBI single and BJ Hermsen a two-run double to make the final score 14-0.

Offensively the Hawks scored their 14 runs on 13 hits, they stranded nine runners.

Zach McCool was three for four with two runs batted in, BJ Hermsen was two for three with four RBI’s and Justin Gideon was two for two with two RBI’s.

Also getting hits were Nate Lahr (1-2), Phil Keppler (1-2), Tony Marbach (1-4), Alex Ryan (1-2), and Chris Harbaugh (1-2).

On Wednesday night the Hawks traveled south to Anamosa for a contest with the Raiders.

West Delaware notched win number two of the season, 10-4 over the host Raiders.

The Hawks scored their 10 runs on 10 hits and again left nine runners on base.

Nate Lahr scored the Hawks first run of the game in the top of the first inning when he scored on a wild pitch after having blasted a one-out double.

The Hawks added a single run in the second when Garrett Linderwell walked and advanced to third on a double by Mitch Mormann. Linderwell scored on a Raider wild pitch to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

Anamosa tied the game at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the fourth inning off of West Delaware winning pitcher Phil Keppler.

The Hawks reclaimed the lead with a single run in the top of the fifth when Nate Lahr hit a one out single, stole second, and went to third on Phil Kepplers ground out. He later scored on a passed ball by the Anamosa catcher.

The Hawks broke the game open with a five run sixth inning.

Mitch Mormann led off with a double and scored on a double by Alex Boom. BJ Hermsen closed out the scoring in the sixth with his second home run of the season, a two-run shot that gave the Hawks an 8-2 lead.

Anamosa came back in the home half of the sixth to score a pair of runs and cut the Hawk lead to 8-4.

However, the Hawks answered right back in the top of the seventh inning with two runs.

Garrett Linderwell led off with a single and stole second. He was sacrificed to third by Alex Boom and came into score on a Raider wild pitch.

Chris Harbaugh scored the Hawks final run of the inning and the game when he drew a two out walk, advanced to second on a single by Zach McCool and scored on a single by Nate Lahr.

Garrett LInderwell retired three of the four batters he faced in the seventh inning to give the Hawks their second win of the 2006 season.

Phil Keppler got credit for the win as he threw the first five innings, giving up two runs on just five hits while striking out four Anamosa batters.

Nate Lahr, three for five with a pair of RBI’s led the Hawks offensively.

Mitch Mormann was the only other Hawk with more than one hit, he was 2 for 4 with a pair of singles.

Also getting hits for the Hawks were Zach McCool (1-5), Phil Keppler (1-3), JB Hermsen (1-4), Garrett Linderwell (1-2), and Alex Boom (1-2).

The Hawks will concluded a bus first week of the season with a pair of games in the Western Dubuque Bobcat Tournament on Saturday.