"Cael was locked in from the first pitch until the 21st out," Hawley Head Coach Beau Lofgren said. "Even though he got into trouble a few times, he kept his composure by hitting spots when he needed to and allowing his defense to work behind him. Credit the trio of Fergus pitchers for keeping us off our toes, preventing us from cashing in on our opportunities."

The Nuggets took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning when the Otters misplayed an infield fly with two outs and runners on second and third, allowing both runners to score.  Hawley increased their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth when they manufactured a run.  Mason Gratton singled, stole second base and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Owen Becker.  Aiden Eilertson then delivered a sacrifice fly to right field.

Fergus Falls got their lone run in the bottom of the fifth when Kellen Stenstrom led off with a single, moved to second on an infield hit by Ben Swanson, stole third base and scored on a ground out off the bat of Leighton Buckmeier.

Hawley was led by Ryan Sperr’s 3-hit day.  He had a pair of singles and a double, and also reached base on an error.  The Nuggets drew a total of 4 walks in the game and stranded 11 base runners.

Fergus Falls got singles from Logan Larson, Stenstrom and Swanson.  The Otters left ten runners on base.  Riston Albert (4IP, 5K, 3BB, 3H, 3R, 1ER) took the loss.  Jack Horgen (1IP, 1K, 1BB, 1H, 0R) and Carston Fronning (2IP, 3K, 0BB, 1H, 0R) came on in relief to finish the game.  The Otters stole six bases in the game, led by Griffin Babolian and Stenstrom with 2 apiece.

"We talked all week about having to play really well to compete against a quality program like Fergus," said Lofgren. "The Otters play one of the toughest schedules in our section, so you know they're going to be well-coached and battle tested. After coming off two tough losses to Frazee the night before, how we would respond in this game would tell me a lot about the crew we have this year."

Hawley improved to 5-2 with the win.  They will remain on the road for a double header with DGF on Tuesday.

Fergus Falls (1-7) is at home against Willmar on Tuesday with a 5:00pm first pitch.