Norse fall to DC’s top teams

The Whitehall baseball team struggled to come up with runs against the Dairyland Conference’s best last week.

The Norse were no-hit in a 1-0 five-inning loss against DC-leading Blair-Taylor last week Tuesday (see story elsewhere in Sports). Then, it managed just one hit in an 11-1 loss against defending DC champion and current second-place Eleva-Strum on Thursday.

Whitehall began this week with an even 7-7 record (5-6 in DC play) before playing at Augusta on Monday and at home against Melrose-Mindoro on Tuesday. They head to Mel-Min on Thursday. The regular season will end this coming Monday with a home game against Alma/Pepin. 

E-S 11 Whitehall 1

The Norse scored one run in the bottom of the first, but that’s all they’d manage. 

Brock Sluga reached base on a dropped third strike and moved to second when Riley Herman walked. Two straight wild pitches allowed Sluga to score, but the Norse still trailed, 2-1, at that point and wouldn’t score again.

Whitehall’s only hit in the game was a single by Will Youngbauer with one out in the sixth. 

The Cardinals scored two in the top of the first inning and held a 2-1 lead until a six-run fifth broke the game open. They added three more runs in the seventh. Jake Bjerke was three-for-five at the plate and struck out 13 Whitehall batters on the mound. 

Sluga got the start for Whitehall, allowing six hits, two walks and three hit batters before being replaced by Herman with two outs in the fifth. Herman struck out four, while walking three and allowing two hits.