Click the thumbnails for photos and videos taken by Brad Landis.
Click the AUDIO buttons to hear post-game comments from Avery Wilson, Mael Batista, and Norse Manager Mike Pankow,
ESCANABA---Every positive moment is special when you've suffered through a college baseball season the way the Bay College Norse have in 2026.
A 20-game losing streak that no one was proud of, and some games where the number of walks and errors out numbered the hits.
But this weekend in Escanaba, the Norse baseball team got to be happy for at least one night. The Norse beat their biggest rivals, the Mid Michigan College Lakers, 4-3, with a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning,
And it was one of the team's three UP players who delivered the winner. Center fielder Avery Wilson punched a base hit to left field with two outs and runners on second and third, giving the Norse and emotional victory against a stunned Mid Michigan team.
Mid Michigan (23-16 overall, 15-8 MCCAA) did win the Sunday games, 13-0 and 6-2, to keep alive in the playoff race. If the Lakers win both games next Friday against Delta College, they will tie Muskegon Community College for the last playoff spot.
The Lakers have the tiebreaker over the Jayhawks.
But for the Norse (3-26 overall, 0-17 MCCAA), that wasn't important. What was is getting their second home win in as many weeks. Something to build on.
The day didn't start out well for Bay. The Norse lost to the Lakers, 25-2, with 16 of those runs coming in a nightmare sixth inning off relief pitcher Christian Rodriguez. Even without that painful inning, Laker pitcher David Wheeler didn't give up much.
Chris Williams got Mid going with a two-run homer, at the end, Matt Blazejewski launched a grand slam home run. Emotional for Blazejewski, who's mother passed away.
The Norse, however, regrouped, behind the pitching of Mael Batista, who kept his team in the game by throwing strikes and limiting the number of Laker baserunners.
Harrison Haigh lifted a fly ball base hit to bring home the first Norse run in the opening inning against Laker pitcher Nick Weiss. The Lakers tied the game with a run in the top of the fourth inning, and then in the top of the sixth, Williams went deep again, for a two-run homer to give Mid Michigan a 3-1 lead.
Batista, a freshman from Panama, regrouped and shut the Lakers down in the final inning,
The Norse got some help in the seventh inning rally. Aedan Cromer led off with a base hit, and Luis Warmack was safe on an error. Antoine Pina followed with a ground ball that hopped over the glove of the Laker third baseman, scoring a run to make it 3-2.
Antonio Lopresti bounced out, but that moved two runners into scoring position. Up came Wilson, the Sault Ste. Marie graduate, and the lefty came through with the hit to the opposite field. Warmack scored the tying run, and Pankow sent Pina to win it. The throw was high and wide to the plate, and the Norse raced out of the first base dugout for a wild celebration as the Lakers quietly walked off the field.
It was a great weekend for Sault Ste. Marie baseball. Not only did Wilson deliver his first college walk-off hit, but his old coach, Kris Bontrager, picked up his 100th career coaching win in Muskegon. And Sault native Louie Krupa made his Major League Baseball umpiring debut by calling games between the Mets and Rockies.
Bay College will be back on the field for four games for four games against first place Grand Rapids Community College on Friday and Saturday.
