Knights Earn Split with Hopewell Hawks in Iron-Out Bowl at Sewell Park



Nathan Brooks hit a 3 run
Double in the win over Hopewell.  

It was another rainy week in Georgia and the Knights Saturday games against Ocee had already been washed out. As more rain fell it looked like Sunday would also be rained out and it would be hard to blame Marietta for giving in to the weather instead of welcoming in the extremely talented and accomplished Hopewell Hawks. But these boys love to play baseball so the Knights coaching staff assembled at 10am Sunday morning at their home Sewell Park to make sure the field was playable for a 2pm first pitch. The result was a playing surface Ed Mangan would be proud of and certainly the finest the Knights have played on in years.



This Issue Of Knights Talk is brought to
you by Iron Out. Did your coach have
your team wear their home whites after a
massive rain storm? Did your son slide
into 2B even though the entire dugout
yelled "You're Up!"? Did the opposing
pitcher throw over to 1B four times even
though your son hasn't stolen a base in a
month? Get Iron Out. It gets the mud out!

Jackson Tysinger delivered another great start on the mound for Marietta and his defense was strong behind him. Hopewell managed just 1 run in the first when their lead off runner tagged from 3rd after Garrett Wells made a running catch on a flyball in deep RCF. Jackson did not allow any more runs in his 3 innings of work and got out of 2 jams. Down 1-0 with 2 outs and a runner on 3B Jackson stuck out a Hawk on 4 pitches to end the 2nd. And with 2 outs and the bases loaded in a 1-1 duel, Jackson coaxed an easy ground ball to 2B that Hunter Williamson handled and tossed to Gil Hastings at 1B to end the 3rd.

The Knights trailed 1-0 in the 2nd with Gil on 3B. Hopewell's catcher caught Gil a little too far off the bag and made a snap throw down. Gil broke for home and then kept the run down alive just long enough for the Hawks to make a mistake so he could score and tie the game at 1-1. Coach Rob congratulated Gil on the great hustle and reminded him never to let it happen again.

It turned into a beautiful Spring like day and the Knights were locked in a 1-1 tie when their offense took over. Luke Martin provided the spark when he reached first after legging out a dropped third strike. He advanced to 3B on a single by Jack Vargo and gave Marietta the lead on Jackson's RBI single. After Hunter walked and Gil reached on a fielder's choice the Knights had the bases loaded with 2 outs and a 2-1 lead for RBI machine Austin Hansell. Austin roped a 2 run single into CF that scored Jackson and Hunter and pushed Gil to 3B. It was now 4-1. George Krivsky drew a walk and the bases were loaded again. Nathan Brooks blasted a 3-1 pitch to straight away CF towards Roswell. Hopewell's CF covered a lot of ground but couldn't catch up as the ball hit the fence. Gil scored. Austin scored. And George scored all the way from first on the 2 out, 3 run double. After 5 2 out RBI's the Knights held a commanding 7-1 lead. In addition to the big hits, the Knights owed thanks to Nathan's Dad Tony who has been working with Knights base runners. As each of these Knights accelerated through each bag on their way to the plate it was clear the work was paying off and will help them win games.

Austin Hansell had 2 RBI's and pitched
2 shutout innings.

The Hawks got their bats going in the final inning but the Knights stayed cool and kept making outs. Single. Ground out to Luke for 1. Single. Ground out to Hunter for 2. 2 more hits and an error closed the gap to 3. Ground ball to Luke and he touches 3B to close it out. A great 7-4 home win over a great team for the Knights.

In game 2, a big first inning by the Hawks doomed the Knights. An error, a walk, a hit batsman and a few big hits and Hopewell was off to a 5-0 start. The Knights settled down and only allowed 1 more run the rest of the way but couldn't overcome the early deficit and fell 6-2. The Knights offense came from a big 2 out, 2 run double off the bat of Luke Martin. The Knights defense was once again pretty strong. The first Defensive Play of the Day happened with the bases loaded in the first. Austin fielded a hard grounder at 3B and fired to Luke at the plate. Luke made the catch just as the runner's spikes smashed against his shin guards for a run saving out. The other came in the 2nd with a runner on 2B. Nathan fielded a low line drive on one hop in LF and threw to Austin at 3B to get the runner trying to advance. Austin was also solid on the mound throwing 2 shut out innings.

The Knights were disappointed that 1 tough inning prevented the sweep but a split against a quality opponent like the Hopewell Hawks is great for the program. And kudos to the Hawks. The Knights' coaches were very impressed that while on deck in front of the Knights' dugout, several Hawks made a point of thanking the Knights coaches for working so hard to prepare the field for the game. They are a great group of kids and always a fun opponent to play. 


Luke Martin had a 2 run Double.

Coach Steven Hansell and Coach Brook Martin work overtime to get the field at Sewell Park ready for play.