JEWELL – South Hamilton hasn’t had much success on the baseball diamond this season, but give the Hawks credit for one thing – they don’t give up.

Ever.

Long innings in the field and sizable deficits never seem to bother rookie head coach Kyle Galetich’s club, and that continued to be the case Monday night at the Mike Penning Athletic Complex in a 16-9 loss to Heart of Iowa Conference rival Greene County.

The Rams (10-7, 8-3 HOIC) blitzed the scoreboard with six runs in third inning and six more in the fifth to build a 15-5 lead. All they needed were three more outs and they would have been heading home early.

But South Hamilton didn’t lay down. Instead, the Hawks plated a run in the fifth to avoid the 10-run rule and tacked on three more in the sixth to close to within 15-9. It would have gotten even more interesting had Rams’ centerfielder Daric Whipple not made a highlight-reel-worthy diving catch on a ball hit by Dugan Swenson in the gap in right-center with two outs in the sixth. Two more runs would have scored had Whipple not robbed Swenson.

“I just told the kids to keep battling, keep fighting and lets scratch across some runs and see what happens,” Galetich said afterwards. “This team always battles and I have no reason to believe they won’t continue doing that the rest of the year. (The players) may make mistakes, but they play with effort all the time.”

Whipple made several wow plays as he patrolled the outfield. He routinely showed off his speed to track down balls in the gap and took away what would have been four hits.

“He might be the best outfielder I’ve seen all year,” Galetich said of Whipple. “He can track down balls, there’s not a misstep and he’s got the speed to get to any ball.”

Greene County also was the beneficiary of a friendly hop that helped its cause in the third inning. With Colton Fitzpatrick on first with a single, Riah Nelson hit a grounder to the right side that was a taylor made double-play ball. But one bad hop over the head of second baseman Blake Barquist later, the Rams had two runners on and were in business.

“This year we’re just not getting those plays,” Galetich said. “With experience, maybe some of those go your way, I don’t know.”

Greene County did plenty of damage without the help of good hops. Hawk pitchers Caleb Olson and Colton Griffin surrendered 16 hits, including five doubles. Five of those hits came in the fifth inning.

“They are very good at the plate,” Galetich said.

Nelson went 3-for-4, while Whipple, Fitzpatrick, Alex Rasmussen and Reid Lamoreux all laced two hits. Lamoreux drove in three runs; Whipple, Fitzpatrick, Rasmussen and Dylan McConnell all collected two RBI.

Colton Griffin accounted for three of South Hamilton’s nine hits. He and Trey Woodall both slapped sixth-inning singles to score runs.

Colton Griffin and Hunter Griffin both finished with two RBI. Rylan Harris roped a second-inning RBI single; Olson added a single and scored three runs, while Jake Hand had a single and touched the plate once.

Olson was on the hook for the loss after working five innings on the hill. Colton Griffin came on and was solid over the final two frames.

“Colton pitched well,” Galetich said. “He’s pretty green and doesn’t have a lot of experience, but he’ll help us the rest of the year.”