Norse nine splits first two

The Whitehall baseball team earned a split in its first two games last week.

The Norse season began on Thursday with a 5-1 nonconference loss at home against Arcadia (see story elsewhere in Sports). Whitehall came back to Melby Park the next day and evened its record with a 12-3 win over Alma Center Lincoln. 

Whitehall was home again on Tuesday of this week, taking on Blair-Taylor before playing at Cadott on Thursday and in Eleva-Strum on Friday. This coming Tuesday, they’ll host Augusta. 

Whitehall 12 AC Lincoln 3

Whitehall took an early lead then broke the game open late.

Riley Herman was hit by a pitch to begin the second inning and later came around to score on a passed ball. Connor Stevens and Broc Coburn reached base without hits then scored on a single by Seth Lambeck to give the Norse a 3-0 lead.

Whitehall added three more runs in the third as Herman had a two-run single and later scored himself on an error. 

The Hornets got on the board with one run in the top of the fourth, but Whitehall answered with two in the bottom of the fifth as Herman scored for the third time in the game on a single by Coburn. 

AC Lincoln put up two runs in the top of the sixth and threatened for more, but three straight strikeouts by Mason Pientok left runners on base. 

Whitehall put the game away with four runs in the sixth as Brayden Lisowski had an RBI single and Pientok added an RBI double. 

Herman had two of Whitehall’s seven hits in the game with two RBIs and three runs scored. Pientok also scored three times and had an RBI while pitching the final three innings with nine strikeouts. 

Lambeck batted in two runs for the Norse and was the starting pitcher, tossing the first four innings with five strikeouts, one walk and one hit. Pientok allowed three hits and two walks.