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Hewitt hits bomb, pitches Hawks past H-D in district opener

South Hamilton advances to Tuesday’s semifinal round against Roland-Story

Senior CJ Hewitt (17) pitched a complete game and hit a two-run home run in South Hamilton’s 7-3 win over Hampton-Dumont in a Class 2A District 13 quarterfinal on Saturday. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

PARKERSBURG — CJ Hewitt is a baseball guy, it’s as simple as that. And the South Hamilton senior wasn’t quite ready for his prep career to come to an end here Saturday night.

So he did something about it.

Hewitt set the tone in the Class 2A District 13 quarterfinal against Hampton-Dumont by striking out the side in the top of the first inning and then cranking a two-run home run in the bottom half, as he powered the Hawks to a 7-3 victory.

“In that first inning, he came out and threw as well as I’d seen him throw all year,” South Hamilton head coach Kyle Galetich said of Hewitt. “He was throwing hard and hitting the mitt and they couldn’t touch him. And the home run was great.”

The win pushed South Hamilton into Tuesday’s semifinal round where familiar Heart of Iowa Conference rival Roland-Story (14-15) awaits. The game will be in Story City at 7 p.m.

South Hamilton (9-13) touched Hampton-Dumont (10-16) starting pitcher Dustin Miller for three runs in the first frame and two more in the second. The Hawks added two more in the third off Bulldogs’ reliever Drew Uhlenhopp and then coasted the rest of the way.

That was enough for Hewitt. The right-hander twirled a complete-game gem on the bump that included 11 strikeouts against just one walk. He allowed just five hits and one earned run.

Hewitt finished 2 for 4 at the plate. Cade Balvanz also roped a pair of hits and drove in one run.

Sam Lewis pushed the Hawks’ lead to 5-0 in the second inning with a two-RBI base hit. Quinton Grove laced a double and collected one RBI, and DJ Klonglan added a single.

South Hamilton dropped both of its regular season meetings to Roland-Story, 4-1 and 11-9. The last time the two teams met, on June 15 in Story City, the Hawks jumped out to an 8-3 lead after 21⁄2 innings, but were unable to hang on late.

Roland-Story enters the semifinal clash reeling just a bit. The Norsemen ended a seven-game skid with a 5-1 win over CAL Friday night, but they’ve won just two of their last 11 games.

Galetich says there are no secrets between the two teams.

“We’ve played them twice and everybody knows everybody, so not a whole lot of scouting needs to be done,” he said. “It’s going to come down to who makes the fewest errors and who throws the most strikes.”

S. Hamilton 7, H-Dumont 3

Class 2A District 13 Quarterfinal

Saturday at Parkersburg

Ha-Du 001 200 0 — 3 5 1

S. Ham 322 000 x — 7 7 2

Dustin Miller, Drew Uhlenhopp (3) and Zarek Mahler. CJ Hewitt and Zeke Balderas. W — Hewitt. L — Miller. 2B — H-D: Quinn Logan; SH: Quinton Grove. HR — SH: Hewitt. Multiple hits — H-D: Carson Miller; SH: Hewitt, Cade Balvanz. RBI — H-D: Mario DeLaCruz (2), D. Miller; SH: Hewitt (2), Sam Lewis (2), Balvanz, Grove.

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