Our Brickie baseball team had a BUSY first week of action with 4 games on the docket!
On Monday, the Merrillville Pirates were supposed to cross I-65 and pay a visit to The Friendly City, but a windchill in the low 30s at gametime forced a postponement until Saturday afternoon.
On Tuesday, the wheels on the bus went 'round & 'round to Washington Township for a non-conference road game. In a closely contested matchup, the Brickies & host Senators were locked in a 1-1 tie through 5 innings of play. In the top half of the 6th, Hobart plated 3 runs to take a 4-1 lead! Washington responded with 1 in the bottom half of the frame to make it 4-2, but our boys added 3 more in the 7th for a 7-2 cushion ...and the D-D-D-DEFENSE did the rest! Final score: Brickies 7, Washington Twp 2!! Sophomore Brandon Stafford went 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored & 3 RBI ...junior Ethan Murchek also went 2-for-3 at the plate and knocked in 2 RBI. Senior Connor Stafford picked up the win on the bump with 7 strikeouts in just 5 innings of work and junior Zach Terek earned the save!
Thursday afternoon brought neighborhood rival River Forest to H-town. In the 2025 home opener, Hobart LEFT NO DOUBT as our boys built a 6-0 lead after 2 innings and cruised to an 8-0 VICTORY!! Sophomore Connor Kenjic & senior Alex Martin combined to strikeout 9 batters in the shutout win and got plenty of offensive help from Brandon Stafford & senior Ben Sullivan, who each recorded 2 hits in the win!
On Friday night, the Brickies were scheduled to host Griffith. Unfortunately, rain started around 3:30pm and didn't stop until Saturday morning, which forced a cancellation. No reschedule date has been set yet.
Saturday was supposed to be a JV-Varsity doubleheader against Merrillville ...the rescheduled varsity game from Monday. Cold & wet conditions caused a cancellation of the JV contest, but thanks to a lot of hard WORK WORK WORK from our baseball staff & student athletes ...and just enough wind from Mother Nature, the field was dry enough to play the varsity game @ 1 o'clock! On a cold Saturday afternoon, Hobart wasted no time heating things up on offense as our boys plated 4 runs in the first & 3 more in the 2nd to claim a 7-0 advantage! On the mound, senior hurler Aidan Leonard was in COMPLETE control of the Pirates as he struck out 5 and surrendered ZERO hits through 3 innings of work! Classmate Jayme Hairston pitched a hitless 4th inning with one strikeout and the Brickie offense scored 4 more runs in the bottom half of the inning to take an 11-0 lead! Junior Gabe Gutierrez took the mound in the 5th, struck out 1 batter, and preserved the NO HITTER to seal the deal and deliver a mercy-rule VICTORY!! Led by sophomore Donio Pimentel, the Brickies pounded out 8 hits and got a double by both Hairston & Sullivan in the win!
*Midway through the 4th inning, the Brickies also welcomed members of Hobart Little League to celebrate their 70th year!! WOW!! Turned out to be a GREAT day to be a Brickie :)
Hobart is off to a GREAT start at 3-0 through 1 week of competition! The Bricks are scheduled to open NCC play Monday & Tuesday vs powerhouse Munster - DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!!
#PUTMEINCOACHIMREADYTOPLAY
