FT. PIERCE, Fl. – Hilbert College battled in back-to-back 9-inning games on day three of their spring training week in southern Florida.  Westminster rallied for a 4-3 late game victory while the University of Northwestern - St. Paul took advantage of Hilbert errors to run away with a 15-1 win.

The Hawks were looking good in the morning game.  Good defense by both teams kept the game at a 0-0 score until the fourth inning, when Hilbert found home plate.  The Hawks had bases loaded in the 1st inning but a fielder's choice to home rotated the inning.

Westminster turned a double play in the top of the second inning and Matt Goraj and Kevin Moore picked a runner off at 1st base in the bottom half of that same inning which kept the Titans in check. 

Hilbert was knocking again in the 3rd inning but got in trouble with another Westminster defensive double play which put the brakes on the Hawks offense.

After Joshua Maier and Kevin Moore walked, they each stole a base and got closer to home when Mark Anderson was at the plate.  Daniel Christmann's single to right field sent Maier home for the first run of the game.

After holding on defense behind some great pitching by Matt Goraj, Hilbert tacked two more runs on in the top of the 5th.

Chris Shriver reached on an error and made it to third base thanks to Ryan Bonafede's single to center.  Bonafede stole second and the Titans decided to intentionally walk Joshua Maier to load the bases.  Kevin Moore's single RBI pushed the runners and after Bradley Perrin was hit by a pitch, another base runner walked home to give Hilbert a 3-0 lead.

One inning later, Westminster got out of another jam with bases-loaded double play to end the top of the 6th.

Hilbert made a pitching change after the first batter walked, and, after defensive realignments, the Titans connected twice setting up potential scorers on 2nd and 3rd base.  On the second pitch, Westminster knocked a single to left field and scored both runners setting a 3-2 score.

Hilbert was on the move in the 7th with three of their first four walking around the horn, but yet another double play ended the Hawks' run and sent them out to defend the bottom of the inning.  After three quick outs, Hilbert picked up their bats again.

Unfortunately Hilbert's top of the order all struck out, the Hawks went back on defense. 

Two Hilbert errors opened the door for Westminster.  Their first batter reached the bag on a fielding error and made it home off his team mate's double to center field.  With a throwing error on the same play the batter advance home grabbing a 4-3 lead now for the first time and held on for the win.

Kevin Moore knocked in two runs after going 1 for 2 at the plate with two walks.  Daniel Christmann led Hilbert's hitting efforts with a 2 for 3 day.   Joshua Maier, Kevin Moore and Michael Vogel each were credited with a stolen base.

A trio of pitchers covered the nine inning game.  Matt Goraj worked five-hitless innings with three strikeouts and two walks.  Moore picked up and tossed one inning and faced six batters.  Joshua Maier closed the game and took the loss giving up two runs  off four hits while striking out two.

After a brief break, Hilbert pulled together for a second 9 inning game of the day.  The University of Northwestern at St. Paul jumped out an 11-0 score after six innings before Hilbert put together their first inning of where more than four Hawks stood at the plate. 

Joshua Maier poked a double to left field which sent Michael Marcinkowski home for the solo marker on the day.

The Eagles added four more runs for the 15-1 win.

Northwestern finished with 16 hits, only five more than the Hawks. Chris Shriver and Joshua Maier both ended with two hits with Shriver going 2 for 2 entering the game in the sixth inning.

Justin Crawley's five strike outs led a six-man crew who battled throughout the game.  Hilbert's staff tossed 8-strikeouts while the three Eagles finished with only four.  It was Hilbert's untimely errors which contributed to the lop-sided loss.

After a day of rest, Hilbert will be back at the diamond March 12 and 13 before they board the bus to head back north.