Bay College Wins First Home Baseball Game, 28-3

WELLS---The Bay College Norse baseball team scored eleven runs in the first inning and rolled to a 28-3 win over the Northern Michigan University Wildcats club team Saturday afternoon in Wells Township. It was the first-ever home game in program history after playing the first 24 games on the road.

Saturday’s eight inning contest also marked the first time the Norse took to the field in two weeks, after having problems with the weather, and one opponent cancelling their season.

“It was good for both teams to get out and play,” Bay College Coach Mike Pankow said. “I don’t think any coach will ever argue with an eleven-run first inning. It was good to get out right away and hit. That’s one of the things that we’ve been inconsistent about this season, is our offensive production and hitting with guys in scoring position. We did well with that today. Positive things, for sure, happening today.”

Bay College President Laura Coleman threw out the first pitch on a sunny, 54-degree afternoon, and then Escanaba native Tyler Skufca went to work on the same mound he played his youth baseball on.

“It was very special,” Skufca said. “The field that we’re at right now. When I was 13 years old, this is where I played my first games on the ‘big’ field. So to be able to play at the college level on the same field was very special.”

Skufca retired the Wildcats in order to start the game, and then in the bottom of the inning, he smoked a two-run triple to the fence to highlight that eleven-run outburst.

Oliver Dunn had a two-run single up the middle, and fellow Aussie Flynn Morrison smacked a two-run double during that inning.

Then Skufca got up to bat for a second time in that inning and singled home another run.

In all, Bay sent 15 batters to the plate, scoring eleven times on six hits.

Bay College added six more runs in the second inning, highlighted by a two-run triple by Ben Schwalbach and another RBI single by Morrison.

Helped along by some NMU errors and a handful of walks, the Norse had a 17-0 lead after two innings and never looked back.

Mark Zhang added a two-run double in the third inning to make it a 19-0 game.
NMU got a run on a bases loaded walk to Galen Vernon in the top of the fourth inning off reliever Logan Bailey, but he struck out the next two batters to end the threat. Bailey threw two innings, allowing one hit and three walks, striking out five batters.

Connor Olson came on to pitch in the fifth inning, and gave up two runs on hits by Mike Linder and Kyle Motyka, with an error and two walks mixed in. The Norse carried a 19-3 lead into the bottom of the fifth, when they added five more runs. Bailey had a run-scoring single and Olson smoked an RBI double to center field during that rally.

Walks, passed balls, and two errors plated the other three runs.

Bay College scored its final four runs in the seventh inning. The big hit that inning came from Jeff Allen, who battled a hamstring injury during the team’s Florida trip last month.

Allen was robbed of a bases-clearing base hit in the fourth inning when Vernon made a running catch of a long fly ball. But in the seventh inning, Allen ripped one to the center field fence to drive in two runs.

“I felt a saw the ball well and squared it up as best as I could,” Allen said of his first at-bat. “The kid kind of stumbled and caught it. (In the seventh inning) I was hoping that I could get something over the plate and put it in the gap and score some runs.”

And that’s what he did.

“It was great to play here,” Allen said. “We’ve got a couple of important games coming up at the beginning of the month so hopefully, we get a big turnout for that.”

In all, the Norse had 19 base hits, with Morrison and Skufca collecting three apiece. Zhang had two doubles, and Kyler Moir was on base five times with two hits and three walks.

On the mound, Skufca threw the first two innings, giving up no hits and one base runner, which he and Morrison erased on a strike ‘em out-throw ‘em out double play.

After Bailey threw his two innings, Olson, Moir, Justin Popelka, and Ty Ziegler all threw one inning apiece for the Norse.

Popelka issued one walk but no runs and struck out two in his inning, and Ziegler put an exclamation point on the game by striking out the side in the bottom of the eighth.

NMU starter Jeremy Maloney went two innings, allowing 17 runs on ten hits and four walks. Eric Ochoa went 4 2/3 innings of long relief, yielding eleven runs on nine hits and nine walks. He also struck out eight batters. Jake Gatengy came on to get the final out for the Wildcats.

Bay College (10-14-1) returns to action next weekend with a trip to Minnesota. First, they’ll face Century College, and then, the Norse will start an important best-of-seven series with Dakota County Technical College.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Garrett Finkbeiner, and listen to post-game interviews with President Coleman, Pankow, Allen, and Skufca.