West Seneca, N.Y. – The Hilbert College men's baseball team hosted the current first-place team in the AMCC, La Roche College.

The Redhawks of La Roche lived up to their reputation, sweeping the Hawks 15-0 and 18-5, which was what they needed to do in order to clinch a bye and home field advantage in the AMCC playoffs.

The Hawks of Hilbert struggled against the La Roche pitching in the first game, but found their offense in the second game; it just was not enough to break down the Redhawks.
 
The first game was all about the Redhawks. In the first four innings the Hawks allowed six runs, while only managing to record one hit themselves, by Anthony Wurstner. A strong defensive effort in the top of the fifth inning, consisting of two fly outs and one groundout,  for Hilbert brought some life back to the team but they still could not get the bats to sing. The Redhawks, on the other hand, exploded in the sixth inning tallying eight runs and extending their lead to 15-0, which is how the first game ended.
 
Hilbert only managed to record four hits, compared to La Roche's 20. La Roche was led by Jon Watson's four hits, including two homeruns. Tyler Ferguson grabbed the win at the mound for La Roche, with eight strikeouts and no walks, while Matt Goraj took the loss.
 
In the second game, La Roche jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings but Hilbert managed to hold them scoreless over the third and fourth innings. After giving up five runs in the top of the fifth, Hilbert was able to get on the board for the first time all afternoon. Daniel Christmann's single scored the Hawks first two runners - Noah Rasnik and Bradley Perrin. Ryan Bonafede was able to bring Michael Vogel across the plate two plays later, making it an 11-3 game.
 
Trailing 13-3 in the sixth, Christmann, again, recorded an RBI as his single brought Michael Best in for the score. In the seventh, Best's single brought Bonafede around for the Hawk's fifth run of the game. Hilbert ended up falling to La Roche 18-5.
 
La Roche notched 20 hits for 18 runs in the second game, while Hilbert stepped up their performance and recorded 14 hits. The Redhawks were tagged for three errors and the Hawks were given two.
 
Perrin and Christmann led Hilbert with three hits, while Bonafede and Best each had two. Christmann also had a team-high four RBIs.
 
Jesse Grundza claimed the win for La Roche, handing out three strikeouts in his five innings pitched. Winfred Nelson took the loss with two strikeouts over four innings.
 
Hilbert (5-22, 2-10) returns to Centennial Park tomorrow, Sunday April 26th, to face D'Youville for a doubleheader with games at 1pm and 4pm.