Baseball experiences midseason success with 4-game win streak

In their third and fourth weeks of the season, the HHS baseball team has finally found a spark in their game to help get their offense going.

Over the past two weeks, the Royals went 4-3 which included a 4-game winning streak, which has been the longest of the season so far. In the first two weeks the Royals were 4-4 and were looking pretty consistent but after these past weeks, the Royals’ record has risen above .500.

The Royals’ overall record is now 8-7 after coming off a close loss to the Wayzata Trojans 3-2.

The Royals started out the first week with back-to-back games. They first played the Eden Prairie Eagles, where they lost 4-2 in that game. Their next game was against Totino-Grace, which they again lost 7-2.

The winning streak started for the Royals on May 2 against the Roseville Raiders. where they got the bats going and scored 12 runs in a 12-9 win. At this point, it had tied the record for most runs in a game for the Royals on the season.

The next game they played was against the Minnetonka Skippers who have been a really hot team this year. The Royals were able to sink the Skippers with a 3-0 win. This also marked the Royals’ first Lake conference win.

In that game Tommy Auth, junior, was able to hit all three RBIs and the Royals got an outstanding performance out of pitchers Luke Polyak, sophomore, and captain Ben Wahlen, senior.

“It felt great to beat Minnetonka as they’re one of the best teams in the state. It felt good to get a couple RBIs but we wouldn’t have won that game if it wasn’t for Polyak or Wahlen on the mound and the defense behind them,” Auth said.

After coming off this big win, the Royals played the next day and beat Hudson 8-5. With this win, it gave the Royals their longest win streak of the season.

That record was extended the next game when the Royals destroyed the Washburn Millers 14-3. Along with the 14 runs they scored, the Royals also put together a 15-hit game.

The win streak wasn’t the only season record that was broke, they also topped their most runs on the season in this game.

With a 4-game win streak in hand, the Royals hosted the Trojans in their last regular season meeting. The Trojans were already 2-0 against the Royals and were looking to complete the sweep.

“I thought we’d have a pretty good shot to beat them and compete with them as we have been playing really well lately,” Auth said.

The Royals once again fell to the Trojans, but had their closest game thus far. They lost 3-2 but had a good chance to tie it up in the seventh inning but failed.

Though the Royals’ regular season is coming to an end with five games remaining, they look to continue their midseason success. The Royals play on Friday, May 12 against another conference team, the Edina Hornets. After this, they’ll have four games within five days to end their season.