Notebook: Dezort, Harris Keeping Hazelwood Central in League Race

’s up-and-down season continues. After winning their first five games, the Hawks have now dropped three of their past five games.

Hazelwood Central fell to Ritenour, 4-3, last Thursday. The Hawks are slated to host Parkway North on Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. and St. Charles West on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Central is 7-3 overall, and 5-2 in the Suburban North Conference, which has them in second place behind 6-0 Pattonville.

The Hawks offense continues to rely heavily on junior outfielder Matt Dezort, who is batting .500 on 15 hits, including five triples, with 13 RBI. Junior Jonathan Harris, the staff ace, is 3-1 with a 3.04 earned-run average in 25 1/3 innings. He has 31 strikeouts and is also 11-for-22 at the plate as a shortstop.

Hazelwood Central 2009 graduate Connell Crossland has decided against continuing his basketball career in the area. Crossland, who recently completed his sophomore season at John A. Logan College in Illinois, will play this fall at Texas Christian University.

Crossland, a 6-foot-7 forward, helped the Hawks win the Suburban North Conference with a 7-0 mark (26-4 overall) when he averaged 14.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game as a senior. Interestingly, standout all-state guard was a sophomore on that team but played limited minutes.

At Logan, Crossland averaged 17 points and 12.3 rebounds per game during his sophomore season, drawing interest from a host of schools, including Missouri and Missouri State.

TCU is located in Fort Worth, TX, and the Horned Frogs play in the Mountain West Conference, though TCU will move to the Big East for the 2012 season. The team had an 11-22 record this past season.

The McCluer baseball team lost, 17-7, at Trinity on Monday night to drop to 4-10 (3-5 Suburban North). The Comets are scheduled to host Hazelwood West on Thursday at 4 p.m. Coach Bryan Durnin has seen Lance Jeffries emerge as  a major power threat this season. Jeffries has five home runs and 20 RBI while hitting .433

The McCluer North baseball team beat McCluer last Thursday, 6-3, to improve to 3-5 (2-4 Suburban North). The Stars were hit with another rain-related postponement against Ladue last Friday, and are slated to play at Francis Howell North on Wednesday at 4:15 p.m.

(Have some local sports news, or story ideas? Please email Patch sports editor Brian Doolittle at briandoolittle@hotmail.com)