South Hamilton senior Brock Galetich stands on the mound during Friday’s game against Prairie City-Monroe in Jewell. Galetich suffered the loss, as the Mustangs claimed an 8-3 win. DFJ photo/Angela Hewitt

JEWELL — South Hamilton baseball coach Kyle Galetich went to bed last Tuesday night feeling like his team could beat anyone. And just 72 hours later, he knew he was in for a restless night as he stewed about how he was going to turn things around.

Welcome to the ebbs and flows of a baseball season.

After starting last week with back-to-back wins over second-ranked (Class 2A) Roland-Story and Ballard, the Hawks ended the five-day stretch with a thud — a second consecutive Heart of Iowa Conference setback that lacked the fire from just days earlier.

“The way the week ended has put a damper on things without a doubt,” Galetich said just an hour after South Hamilton fell to Prairie City-Monroe, 8-3, at the Mike Penning Athletic Complex. “It’s something

we need to figure out because we’re too talented to be this up and down. There’s got to be more consistency night to night.”

The loss to PCM (4-5, 4-1 HOIC) followed Wednesday’s 10-7 setback against league leader West Marshall. And just like that, South Hamilton (7-3, 3-3 HOIC) sits in fourth place in the league standings and is staring at a two-game deficit.

The Mustangs rattled off 11 singles and cracked the scoreboard first with a run in the fourth inning. They tacked on three in the sixth and four more in the seventh.

Only two of the runs allowed were earned, as South Hamilton committed three errors. Brock Galetich was on the hook for the loss after going 62⁄3 on the bump. He walked one and struck out six.

“Brock pitched a good game, but we made errors that cost us six runs,” Kyle Galetich said. “We had errors at the wrong time and we didn’t have timely hitting.”

South Hamilton roped 10 hits, including the game’s only extra-base hits — doubles by Brock Galetich and Carter Hewitt. The Hawks trailed 8-1 entering the seventh, but managed to push two runs across to close the gap to five.

Brock Galetich went 2 for 4 at the dish, while Elijah Balderas and Tanner Blue finished 2 for 3. Tycin Barkema, Lane Swenson and Kyler Hodnefield addled singles, while Balderas and Jake Ellis both drove in a run.

Sage Burns, Beau Webb and Andrew Mitchell all had two hits for PCM. Mitchell collected two RBIs, and Burns went the distance on the bump to earn the win.

South Hamilton will have some time to find answers to its current problems. The Hawks won’t return to the diamond until Wednesday when they host Greene County at 7:30 p.m.

PCM 8, SH 3

Friday at Jewell

PCM 000 013 4 — 8 11 0

SH 000 001 2 — 3 10 3

Beau Webb and Caleb Duinink. Brock Galetich, Tanner Blue (7) and Elijah Balderas. W — Webb. L — Galetich. Multiple hits — PCM: Webb, Sage Burns, Andrew Mitchell; SH: Galetich, Balderas, Blue. 2B — SH: Galetich, Carter Hewitt. RBI — PCM: Mitchell (2), Burns, Gavin Fenton; SH: Balderas, Jake Ellis.