What has he learned from those two games? His Hawks have the chance to be quite good.

For the second time in as many nights on Friday, South Hamilton sprayed the field with base hits — 12 in all — in a 6-1 road win over Heart of Iowa Conference rival Greene County.

Two games, 25 hits, two lopsided wins. Now that’s something to build from.

“We’re trying to do things at South Hamilton that haven’t been done in a long time,” Galetich said, noting this is the Hawks first 2-0 start since 2012. “These kids have won in everything they’ve done and (baseball) is one thing where they haven’t been as successful as they’ve wanted to be. They want to change that.”

Brock Galetich makes the hard turn at third on his way to the plate during South Hamilton’s 6-1 win over Greene County on Friday in Jefferson. Photo by Angela Hewitt

It starts with the team’s three seniors — Cole Berg, Sam Lewis and Zeke Balderas — all of whom are multiple-year starters. They combined for five hits against the Rams (2-1, 0-1 HOIC); Lewis went 3 for 4 with a double, while Balderas drove in one run.

“Those three have played so much baseball and at the end of last season you could see Sam turning a corner and the same with Cole, and Zeke has always hit well,” Galetich said. “We also have a lot of athleticism … we have speed and we take extra bases.”

Carter Hewitt also laced a double and went 2 for 3 with one RBI. Cade Balvanz and Brandyn Feighner had two hits each off Rams’ pitcher Brent Riley. Brock Galetich added a single.

A Berg single and Lewis double put South Hamilton (2-0, 1-0 HOIC) in business right away and the Hawks went on to plate four runs in the first inning. Hewitt and Feighner smacked RBI singles and Quinton Grove drove in another run on a bases loaded walk.

That was enough for Balderas and Berg, who combined to twirl a two-hitter with seven strikeouts. Balderas went five innings and allowed just one hit to collect the win, while Berg finished Greene County off in the sixth and seventh frames.

South Hamilton first baseman Cade Balvanz camps out under a fly ball in foul territory during Friday’s HOIC victory over Greene County. Photo by Angela Hewitt

“I have high expectations for those two, and both gave gutty performances,” Galetich said.

S. Hamilton 6, Greene County 1

Friday at Jefferson

S. Ham 400 001 1 — 6 12 2

Gr. Cty 000 001 0 — 1 2 3

Zeke Balderas, Cole Berg (6) and Elijah Balderas. Brent Riley and Tyler Teeples. WP — Z. Balderas. LP — Riley. Multiple hits — SH: Sam Lewis (3), Cade Balvanz, Carter Hewitt, Brandyn Feighner. 2B — SH: S. Lewis, Hewitt. RBI — SH: Z. Balderas, Hewitt, Feighner, Quinton Grove, Cade Flaugh; GC: Riley.