A more aggressive approach at the plate and a renewed emphasis on solid defense helped the South Hamilton baseball team pick up its first victory of the season Friday night at the Mike Penning Athletic Complex in Jewell.

The Hawks sprayed 11 hits to all areas of the field and played error-free defense in an 8-5 victory over Heart of Iowa Conference foe Colfax-Mingo.

“The guys really swung the bats a lot better (Friday night),” South Hamilton head coach Kyle Galetich said. “We’ve preached to them that we want them to be aggressive and hit early in the count. We want to hit on our terms, not the pitcher’s terms.”

The contest was deadlocked at five before the Hawks (1-1, 1-1 HOIC) plated three runs in the last half of the sixth inning. Dugan Swenson smacked a RBI base hit and Rylan Harris brought another run to the dish.

Caleb Olson, Colton Griffin, Trey Woodall and Blake Barquist all lashed two hits in the win. Olson collected two RBI, as did Swenson, while Woodall and Barquist each had one.

Olson went six innings on the hill to pick up the win. The senior right-hander allowed just five hits and three earned runs. He walked four and struck out five.

Woodall came on in the seventh to earn the save.

South Hamilton will travel west this evening to face Greene County in Jefferson.