WESTFIELD, Ind. – Behind a stellar effort on the mound and at the plate by senior Colin Hawk, the University of Indianapolis baseball team staved off elimination for the third straight game at the GLVC Baseball Championship, this time with a 4-3 win over William Jewell College.
 
Hawk went 2-for-4 at the plate, belting a home run in his third consecutive game and driving in all four Greyhound runs. As good as he was with the bat, he was even better on the bump, holding the Cardinals to four hits and striking out 11 batters over 8 2/3 innings of work in his first start since Apr. 18, 2015.
 
"Our coaches let me know yesterday that I was going to have to step up today," Hawk told the GLVC Sports Network. "I hadn't thrown yet this year, but I just wanted to go out and compete when I got the ball. We've been battling all weekend long and we're looking forward to having another chance to come back out and play tomorrow."
 
"This team has had high aspirations all year and we've played some nearly perfect baseball the last two games," Head coach Gary Vaught added. "William Jewell has a really good team and we needed to be at our best to beat them. Colin was one of our pitchers last year and we knew that we were going to need him today. He had thrown a few flat ground bullpen sessions and we felt good about having him take the ball and he came up in a big way for us today."
 
After threatening but ultimately failing to score in the second inning, the Greyhounds got the ice breaker in the top of the third. Devon Hensley led off the inning with a double and came in to score when Hawk roped a two out single to left to make it 1-0.
 
Hawk set down 12 of the first 13 Cardinals to come to the plate, surrendering just a one out double in the second. He gave himself a little bit of insurance in the top of the fifth, ripping an 0-2 pitch from Garret Smith over the left field wall for a three-run shot that made it 4-0 Hounds.
 
William Jewell had no answer for Hawk through six innings, but finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh. Following a single, error and a hit by a pitch to load the bases, Coleman Waheed ripped a single to left that scored two and cut the lead in half.
 
Following a scoreless eighth inning, the Cardinals began to make some noise in the bottom of the ninth. Tyler Carpenter kept Jewell alive with a two out RBI single, which spelled the end of the day for Hawk. The Greyhounds turned things over to Jake Shaw, who surrendered a single before getting a game-ending groundout to first base for his first save of the year.
 
The win moves UIndy to 35-19 on the year, surpassing the team's win total from a year ago. Smith (3-4) was brilliant in defeat for the Cardinals, surrendering three earned runs on eight hits with one walk and 10 punch outs in eight innings of work. William Jewell falls to 32-21 on the year after their first loss of the GLVC Tournament.
 
UIndy and William Jewell will face off in a rematch on Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. The winner will advance to the GLVC championship game against Rockhurst, who earned the right to play for the conference title after a 7-6 walk-off win over Quincy on Saturday.