By Charles Dee
The Hays High Rebel baseball team gained its first win for head coach David Null with an exciting 3-2 win over the highly regarded Hendrickson Hawks in the opening game of the San Marcos tournament today.
The Rebs got a strong pitching performance from senior Alec Swofford, who limited the Hawks to two hits and a single run. Junior Justin Diaz relieved Swofford with one out in the fourth and held the Hawks at bay to for the final three innings.
The Rebs went up early by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Alex Robles led off with a walk and moved to second on J.C.Gonzales’ ground ball. After a Granger Studdard single, Robles and Studdard executed a double steal to put runners at second and third. Dalton Niles responded with a hard to handle ground ball that scored Robles and left Studdard in position to score on a passed ball. The Rebs tallied again in the third following back to back singles by Gonzales and Studdard, a well executed sacrifice bunt by Niles and an RBI producing ground ball by Devin Palm.
After giving up one out double in the seventh, Diaz shut the door on the Hawks to preserve the victory. The Rebels are now 1-1 on the year and play four more games Friday and Saturday as part of the tournament.
