Matthew Legere is a Master’s Student at ASU Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Hamilton High School for AZPreps365.com

PHOENIX — It was a windy day for baseball at Sandra Day O’Connor High School on Friday afternoon. Hamilton’s offense did not hesitate to take complete advantage of the situation. The Huskies belted five doubles and three home runs en route to an impressive 11-1 blowout victory of the Eagles. 

For the third straight game, the Huskies jumped out to an early lead. A first inning walk to designated hitter Josh Tiedemann was followed by back-to-back RBI base hits by the junior duo of Ryan Kucherak and Zach Wadas.

Tiedemann, a TCU commit, finished 1-for-3 with an RBI double and two runs scored. Kucherak, a Baylor commit, finished 2-for-4 with a double, three RBI and a run scored. The Huskies led 2-0 after one and never looked back. 

The bats continued to stay hot in the third inning. Senior Gavin Turley led off the inning with his first home run of the season, which was not to be outdone by the left-handed hitting Wadas, who smashed a two-run home run for his first of the season just a few moments later. 

Turley, an Oregon State commit, finished 2-for-3 with a double, home run, two RBI and three runs scored. Wadas finished 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBI.

Friday's matchup marked Wadas’ first defensive appearance of the season. Through three games played, the TCU commit has now started in the outfield, as well as serving as the team’s designated hitter and late game pinch-hitter. In many ways, Wadas’ attitude and work ethic help to exemplify exactly what it means to be a Husky. 

“Relax, sit back, and be aggressive,” Wadas said. “These are the three things that I write on my wrist before each game. I really try to focus and stay present for each pitch because I know that it will help me to stay locked in and ready to perform when my name is called.”

Another Husky who would not miss the opportunity to perform was junior Jeter Mauzey. The New Mexico State University commit came off the bench in the late innings of a 10-1 ballgame and blasted a solo home run to left field in his lone at-bat of the afternoon. Junior shortstop and UCLA commit Roch Cholowsky went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and run scored as well.

“It's honestly crazy,” Wadas said. “Anyone on our team can hit a home run, get that extra-base hit when we need it, or probably even pitch if they really wanted to. It's a great thing for Hamilton and I think we're going to be really good this year.”

On the mound for the Huskies, Jackson Smith was both efficient and effective. The southpaw needed just 69 pitches to complete five innings, allowing one run on just two hits and a walk. The uncommitted senior finished with five strikeouts on the afternoon. 

“Getting ahead in the count and mixing up speeds was what really helped me today,” Smith said. “Knowing that you have a great defense behind you helps to build a lot of confidence that you won’t have to go out there and try to strike everybody out, which I think was also a huge key to success.” 

Coming out of the pen, Arizona commit Will Shelor and Hawaii commit Carson Johnson combined for two innings of shutout baseball. Shelor, who threw an inning and a third, struck out three of the five batters he faced. Johnson struck out one of the two batters he faced to end the ballgame. 

With the win, the Huskies improve to 3-0 on the season and host Mountain Pointe (1-1) at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Sandra Day O’Connor (0-2) travels to Opus Field for a 4:00 p.m. start time at Brophy Prep.