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

CHANDLER — The first two weeks of the season are officially in the books for Hamilton  and it is hard to imagine the Huskies slowing down at any point soon. Thursday’s 12-2 win against Chandler was sparked by dominant performances both on the mound and in the box, giving the Huskies their first 6A Premier Region victory of the season. 

Kole Klecker picked up his first win, allowing just three hits and striking out 11 Wolves in five innings. Klecker’s lone run surrendered was scored after a first inning bunt single by Blake Heffron was followed by an RBI bloop single by Daniel Hutchison, which dropped in just in front of the outstretched glove of left fielder Tanner Holland.

“I was just looking to have some fun out there,” Klecker said. “I wanted to give my teammates a quality outing and, you know, I think I was able to do just that. Everything was working today, I just had to focus on throwing strikes and letting my defense do the work behind me.”

Klecker’s performance adds to a Huskies starting pitching staff and defense that is holding opponents to less than two runs per start: 1.83 to be exact. Not bad for a team with a plus-58 run differential and an average of 11.7 runs scored per game.

Sparking the offense for the Huskies was none other than Gavin Turley. The senior outfielder went 2-for-4 with two home runs and a walk in Thursday’s contest. Turley has now homered in five of his last 14 official at-bats, increasing his season stats to the tune of a .364 batting average, .500 on-base percentage, nine RBI, and nine runs scored. 

Turley is not the only one raking on offense for the Huskies, though.

Josh Tiedemann contributed to the win with a single and a two-run home run in his first two trips to the plate. One might not be able to tell by his quiet demeanor and approach to the game, but the reigning 6A Premier Region Player of the Year just continues to find ways to get on base and score runs. Through six games played, Tiedemann boasts a .500 batting average, .565 on-base percentage, two home runs, six RBI, and nine runs scored.

Prince DeBoskie also contributed to Thursday’s win in a big way, going 2-for-3 with a three-run home run – his first of the season—and a single. The uncommitted senior remains right up there with Turley and Tiedemann, slashing a .500 batting average, .556 on-base percentage, nine RBI, and six runs scored.

(Matthew Legere photo/ AZPreps365)The Huskies are not just seeing production from batters No.1 through No. 9; Thursday’s 12-hit performance included four hits, three RBI, and three runs scored from the bench — including a pinch-hit, mercy-inducing game winning RBI triple off the bat of Logan Krei. 

“This team is deep,” Turley said. “Not only that, but I mean we all work together. We're all boys off the field as well — which is a really cool thing to have. That’s something that is really special to me and it always will be.”

Turley is right, the Huskies are deep, which sparks the debate: whom do the Huskies think has come out of the gate with a hotter start to the season, the offense or the pitching staff?

“Kole’s not going to like this one but I’d have to say the offense,” Turley said. “There are just no holes. We all protect each other. You can't walk one guy and expect the next guy not to get a double.”

Klecker did not like that answer indeed. 

“I mean, it's the best offense in the state but you’ve got to go with the pitching staff,” Klecker said. “We're locking down teams. I know the bats are hot, but I mean, teams just aren't scoring runs off of us. I definitely think it's the staff.”

As Klecker said, the 2022 Huskies are just having fun. Hamilton (6-0) will now enjoy a short break in the action before opening up the Boras Baseball Classic of Arizona against the Titans of Legend High School (Parker, Colo.) at Corona del Sol on Wednesday, March 16.