Prep Baseball: Hawkins pitches Harrisburg to regional win over Patriots

Drew Hawkins pitched a complete-game shutout as Harrisburg rolled to a 5-0 win over Massac County Wednesday in the IHSA Class 2A Regional semifinal at Jay Thompson Field.
Hawkins surrendered zero runs on two hits over seven innings, striking out six as Harrisburg improved to 28-6 on the season and will now face the winner of Thursday's other semifinal match pitting Carmi-White County against Fairfield on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Harrisburg's offense was efficient, scoring five runs on five hits as Jackson Pittman led the charge, going 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBI.
Braden Burtis had a team-high three RBI, finishing 1-for-3 with a home run and a run scored, while Ethan Golish and Cameron Ande also had one hit.
Harrisburg drew first blood, plating a run in the first and second inning.
Burtis came through with an RBI ground out in the first inning, scoring Golish and in the second, Pittman singled on a line drive to right field, scoring Blake Stacey.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Pittman's triple scored Luke Miller, who led the inning off with a walk and in the fifth inning, the Bulldogs added two more when Burtis smacked a two-run home run to left fields scoring Ande.
Andy Girot took the loss for the Patriots as he went five innings and allowed five runs on five hits with four strikeouts and four walks. Jackson Elliott pitched one inning of relief, walking one.