Norse baseball team wins two of three

After a loss to start the week, the Whitehall baseball team won two games. 

All three contests were close as the Norse struggled at the plate in a 3-0 loss to Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran last week Monday. The team got the winning run to cross the plate in the bottom of the seventh to beat Osseo-Fairchild, 3-2, on Tuesday before it held off Alma Center Lincoln for a 5-3 win on Friday. 

The Norse began this week with a 6-4 record, including a 4-3 mark in Dairyland Conference play. They were set to play at Cochrane-Fountain City on Tuesday and at home against Melrose-Mindoro on Thursday before heading to Pepin/Alma on Friday. They’re scheduled to play at Blair-Taylor this coming Tuesday and at home against Eleva-Strum next Thursday. 

ECI 3 Whitehall 0

The Norse just couldn’t bring runners home in the shutout loss.

Whitehall got runners on in each of the first two innings, but stranded them on first base. Their first two batters reached in the fourth, but three straight strikeouts ended the threat. They got a two-out single in the fifth and got the leadoff batter on in the sixth, but couldn’t bring them home. 

The Lancers took the lead on an RBI double in the bottom of the third. They added to their advantage with two runs in the sixth as a one-out single was followed by a triple. Their third run scored on an error.

Whitehall threatened again in the top of the seventh as Nick Katzman walked and Brayden Lisowski singled to put two on with two outs, but a groundout ended the game.

Lisowski had two of Whitehall’s three hits, Brock Sluga had the other.

Seth Lambeck took the loss, striking out nine without a walk, while allowing six hits.

Whitehall 3 O-F 2

A walk with the bases loaded gave the Norse the win.

The Trempealeau County teams were tied 2-2 entering the final half-inning. 

Lisowski reached with a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh. Lambeck was then hit by a pitch and both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. The Thunder chose to intentionally walk Brock Sluga to bring up freshman Riley Herman. Herman watched as a 3-1 pitch missed the strike zone, allowing Lisowski to come home for the winning run.

The Thunder struck early with two runs in the top of the first inning. Whitehall answered in the third when Herman doubled to score Lambeck and Sluga. 

Lisowski led Whitehall with two hits. He also got the win on the mound, pitching four relief innings with eight strikeouts, while allowing one walk and one hit. Mason Pientok got the start, pitching the first three frames, striking out five and walking five without allowing a hit. 

Whitehall 5 ACL 3

The Norse held off the Hornets to earn the win.

Whitehall took an early lead as Lisowski tripled to start the bottom of the first and scored. Lisowski added an RBI single in the second, scoring Demetrius Hodges. 

The Hornets got on the board in the top of the third, but Whitehall scored the next three runs. The team scored one in the fourth as Grayson Pronschinske singled and scored on a wild pitch. Two came home in the fifth as Bo Killian singled to bring Riley Herman home and Will Youngbauer singled and scored on a wild pitch. 

ACL made the game interesting with one run in the sixth and another in the seventh. They had the tying run at the plate, but a strikeout ended the game.

Lisowski got the win, pitching 6.1 innings, striking out eight while holding the Hornets to four hits and two walks. Luke Matejka and Seth Lambeck finished the game out.

Lisowski and Pronschinske both had two hits for the Norse.