BEAMAN — The South Hamilton baseball team picked the perfect time to wipe the slate clean.

Following a rocky regular season, the Hawks gained new life in a Class 1A substate opener here on Monday. Plating five runs in the last two innings and seven in the last three, South Hamilton (4-16 overall) pulled away to eliminate BCLUW (11-7) by a final score of 8-3.

Senior shortstop Braden Young had a big game for the Hawks, going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and four RBI. Freshman centerfielder Garrett Johnson also drove in a pair.

Junior catcher Brody Harris was 2-for-4.

Landon Sogard worked the first 4.1 innings with five strikeouts and two earned runs allowed. Johnson came in and dominated from there, firing 2.2 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts for the save.

South Hamilton had dropped four in a row and 12 of 13 before Monday.

The Hawks were at Janesville on Tuesday in the second round.