---Bay College Sports Information---

HEMLOCK, MI – The  Bay College Norse baseball team (9-8, 5-4 MCCAA) found itself in tight games all weekend long, but managed to sweep the four-game set from the Delta College Pioneers (6-18, 1-10 MCCAA) in Lower Michigan.
 
Weather forced the games to be pushed to Saturday and Sunday, then more rain threatened the series when Delta's home field in University Center near Saginaw was not available. Thankfully, Hemlock High School stepped up and provided the venue for the weekend.
 
Bay swept Saturday’s games, 6-1 and 3-2, and then won both games on Sunday in come-from-behind fashion, 10-8 and 9-4.
 
The wins boost the Norse into contention in the tightly-packed MCCAA North Division standings. Bay is currently in a virtual three-way tie for second place in the conference.
 
GAME ONE---BAY COLLEGE 6, DELTA COLLEGE 1---On Saturday, game one turned out to be a pitcher's duel, as the game remained scoreless heading into the seventh inning. The scoreless tie was broken when Eric Johnson (SO, Marquette, MI) was hit by a pitch. Michael Rey (SO, Dunnellon, FL) then lined a single to right to drive in two more. Two more runs came across when George Cooper (SO, Skenners Head, Australia) singled to left, and he scored on a Zach Gibson (SO, Nassau, Bahamas) double, giving the Norse a six-run lead.
 
A pair of singles and an error put Delta on the board, but Bay's starter Cohen Thompson (SO, Chapin, SC) slammed the door on a comeback by getting the last two outs.
 
Thompson was brilliant, going the distance for the Norse, giving up just three hits, one unearned run, walking one, and striking out three
 
Rey, Cooper, and Gibson all had multi-hit games.
 
Bryson Luth (SO, Reese, MI) kept Bay off balance for six innings, giving up four hits and walking three in his start. He struck out six.
 
Landon Sella (SO, Essexville, MI) took the loss on the mound.
 
GAME TWO---BAY COLLEGE 3, DELTA COLLEGE 2---The Pioneers bounced back in game two by getting on the board early, takimg a 2-0 lead, but the Norse would chip away starting in the third inning. After a leadoff walk and a balk, a fly ball moved the runner to third. Lorenzo Feliciano (SO, Deerfield Beach, FL) picked up an RBI with a ground ball to short.
 
Bay took advantage of another leadoff walk in the fourth inning. This time, it was Bon LaChance (FR, Escanaba, MI) who came up big, as he lined a single to left field to tie the game at 2-2.
 
The Norse threatened again in the sixth inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Harrison Haigh (FR, Essendon, Australia) drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to right. Delta would get out of the jam, but the damage had been done as the Norse had the lead.
 
Delta threatened in the seventh inning with a lead-off double, but a strikeout and groundout gave Bay a way out of the inning. A walk loaded the bases for the Pioneers, but a fly ball to center ended the game with Bay taking the tight victory.
 
Cooper was the winning pitcher.  He gave up five hits, two runs, one earned, and two walks.  He struck out eight in seven innings of work.
Bay had just three hits in the game.
 
Tyson Baumann (FR, Elmira, ON) took a tough-luck loss on the mound.  He also went seven innings, giving up three runs, two earned, and walking five. He struck out five.
 
GAME THREE---BAY COLLEGE 10, DELTA COLLEGE 8--- The Pioneers grabbed an early lead to start Sunday afternoon once again. With two outs in the first they would get a hit by pitch and single to put runners on, and a defensive miscue in the outfield plated the first run.  Two more runs came across on wild pitches and the home team had a three run lead after one inning of play.
 
Bay cut into that lead in the third inning. Cooper singled to drive in a run and Gibson lifted a sacrifice fly to center, cutting the lead to one. The Norse took advantage of a two-out error in the fourth with a Shane Lievsay (FR, Prescott Valley, AZ) RBI single, tying the game heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.
 
Two errors gave a pair of runs to Delta in the bottom half of the inning, and the Pioneers added two more runs in the fifth inning with a base hit from Caiden Larkin (SO, Hemlock, MI).
Bay was in a 6-2 hole late in the game, but rallied yet again. A pair of walks and a two-out single from Rey loaded the bases with two outs for Bay in the sixth inning. Cooper promptly unloaded them with a double to center, plating three runs, and pulling Bay to within one at 6-5.
 
He would be left on second however, and the Norse still trailed heading into the seventh inning.
 
Delta could not take advantage of two baser unners in the bottom of the sixth inning, and so the Norse came up in the seventh inning down by a run. Bay drew a lead-off walk in the seventh and the pinch runner Eli Gardner (FR, Escanaba, MI) was running on a 1-2 pitch to Cam Street (SO, Newmarket, ON) and was able to advance all the way to third on a ground out. That allowed him to score on LaChance's ground ball to second, tying the game.
 
Bay avoided trouble in the bottom of the seventh, stranding two runners, so we went extra innings, tied at 6-6.
 
Bay could not take advantage of a lead off walk in the top of the eighth inning. A two-out single and an error came up empty for Delta in the bottom of the eighth, so the game went to the ninth inning.
 
Bay got a lead-off single to start the ninth from Gibson. Gardner followed that up with a beautiful bunt to the right side that went for a hit.  A sacrifice bunt moved the two runners into scoring position and LaChance came up big again, this time with a triple to right field. He would score on a two-out wild pitch, giving the Norse a three-run lead at 9-6.
 
A sacrifice fly cut the lead to two in the bottom half for Delta.
 
With one out and a runner on second, Delta hit a flare to the right side that seemed destined to find the grass in the outfield, but Johnson made an over-the-shoulder leaping catch in the outfield and was able to get up and double off the runner on second to end the game with a thrilling extra inning victory for Bay.
 
Lievsay was three for three with three walks for the Norse.  Cooper ended up with two hits in five at bats and had four RBI.
 
Lievsay started the game on the mound and went four and one-third innings.  He gave up just three hits and three walks, but was the victim of poor defense, as all seven runs that scored against him were unearned. He struck out four batters.
 
Thijs Rijpstra (SO, Dongen, Netherlands) picked up the win in relief.  He pitched three and two-thirds and gave up three hits and one run.  He walked two and struck out two.  Bill Hosegood (SO, Radisson, SK) earned the save in one inning of work.
 
Layke Hornung (SO, Midland, MI) picked up the loss for Delta.
 
GAME FOUR---BAY COLLEGE 9, DELTA COLLEGE 4---The Norse took the first lead in the second inning as Austin Samanske (SO, Eagle River, WI) connected and drove a ball over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
 
Norse starter Lorenzo Feliciano seemed to be cruising until the fifth inning.  An error started the inning and back-to-back singles followed by another defensive miscue tied the game. With two outs, a wild pitch scored another run and after a walk a hit by pitch forced another run to the plate, giving Delta a 4-2 lead late.
 
Bay's response was quick, again. The Norse led off the top of the sixth inning with a walk, a single, and a hit by pitch, loading the bases.
 
After a pop out, Samanske lined a ball to left, bringing in two runs and tying the game at 4-4. Lievsay followed that up with an RBI single, giving Bay the lead.Cooper added insurance with a two out single, bringing in two more runs. Bay scored two more on wild pitches and were set up with a five-run lead at 9-4
 
Andres Franco (SO, Orenjestad, Aruba) came on to pitch in relief.  After a lead off walk he got a double play ground ball and worked around a single to get out of the inning. He then got the Pioneers in order in the seventh inning to lock down the Norse sweep
 
Samanske was the only Norse player to pick up multiple hits in the game and had four RBI. Feliciano was the winning pitcher. He struck out seven in five innings of work. One of his four runs were earned.
 
With the four wins, Bay College improved to 5-4 in conference play.

The Norse are in a virtual tie with Mid Michigan (4-3) and Alpena Community College (6-5) for second place, behind conference leader Grand Rapids Community College (9-2). And Muskegon is just a game behind at 4-5.

The Norse have a big four-game series with Alpena next weekend. Before that, Bay will get some non-conference action in on Wednesday with a doubleheader on the road in Wisconsin against the Milwaukee Area Tech Stormers. That doubleheader is scheduled for a 3:00 (Eastern) start.