ESCANABA, MI – The Bay College Norse Baseball Team (18-18, 9-9 MCCAA) kept their postseason hopes alive by sweeping the Delta College Pioneers (11-23, 6-12 MCCAA) in a four-game series over the weekend.  On Friday the Norse won by scores of 5-2 and 5-1 and followed that with 9-2 and 12-8 victories on Saturday after a rainy night pushed game times back.

In the series opener Bay had to fight back from an early 2-0 hole and got a big fly from Josh Blake (SO, Seffner, FL) who belted a two-run homerun to left to tie the game.

Both teams enjoyed a strong pitching performance as Brady Gauthier (SO) kept the Norse off balance in the early going, while Bay's Hunter Ballantyne (FR, Brantford, ON) was strong as well.

The Norse finally put some pressure on Gauthier in the fifth.  A pair of walks and a single set up a two-out double to left off the bat of George Cooper (FR, Eltham, Australia) giving bay the lead.  They added an insurance run in the sixth when Jace Cota (SO, Chippewa Falls, WI) scored on a wild pitch.

Ballantyne did not allow a hit after the fourth and retired ten of the last eleven hitters to step to the plate.  The Pioneers got just three hits off o him and only one run was earned.  Ballantyne walked just one hitter and struck out eight for the win.

Lorenzo Feliciano (FR, Deerfield Beach, FL) was two for three with two runs scored and Cooper also picked up a pair of hits in three at bats.

It was Bay getting out to a lead in the second game.  Zach Gibson (FR, Nassau, Bahamans) led off the third with a solo home run to left.  Bay added two more in the frame.  With two outs a wild pitch sent another run home and an error brought in a third. 

Blake helped the Norse answer back from a Delta run in the third, leading off the bottom half with another home run to left.  He came up with a two-out single in the sixth to drive in another run, putting Bay up 5-1.

Cooper started and went six strong innings, scattering five hits and giving up one run while walking four and striking out three.  Zac Gomersall (SO, Perth, Australia) worked out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh, inducing a comeback groundball that resulted in a 1-2-3 double play and a fly out to slam the door on the Pioneer rally.

Blake was two for three with two RBI.

Overnight rain delayed the start of Saturday's games to a 2 pm start.  Just like the day before it was Delta taking an early lead.  Coltin Chany (FR) hit a wall scraping two-run home run in the third, putting Bay down a pair.

Delta's David Walsh (FR) used a good mix of off-speed pitches to keep Bay's offense quiet until the fifth.  A pair of walks put him in trouble and Bay attempted a double steal.  While the runner at first was thrown out attempting to advance to second, Cota was able to touch home plate for the first run of the game for Bay.  An error tied the game at two and forced Walsh out of the game.

The Norse went to work off the Pioneer bullpen in the sixth.  With Cooper at first, Andres Franco (FR, Orenjestad, Aruba) hit a long double to center.  Cooper would beat the throw home to break the tie, and Franco made a dash for third on the throw home.  An attempt to get him sailed into the outfield allowing Franco to trot home making it 4-2 in favor of the Norse.  After an Aedan Creten (FR, Gladstone, MI) single, Cota greeted another new pitcher by crushing a home run to center and giving Bay a four run lead. 

"I guess I finally got a hold of one," Cota said after the game with a smile. "It was great. I've been waiting for it all season. It finally happened. In went up there, I was sitting on a fastball. He threw me one, pretty down the middle, and I guess I just got hold of it and sent it to center. I thought it was a ground-rule double until I heard everyone screaming."

Bay got more insurance in the seventh when Aedan Creten lifted a three-run bomb over the 20 foot fence in right, putting the game out of reach for Delta College.

"It was a battle," Creten said of the at bat. "I fouled off three balls, so it was a full count, or 2-2 count. Then he threw me a fastball right down the middle, and I got a good piece of it. It felt good, coming in as the DH, and coming through in a clutch situation. I tried to stay hot in between innings by running polls with Logan [Peterson]."

Lorenzo Feliciano was the winning pitcher for Bay.  He finished the game with an immaculate inning and struck out 11 total.  He gave up just four hits and two walks.

Cooper and Creten each finished with two hits in the game.

In the finale Bay cruised out to a 6-1 lead midway through thanks in part to a three-run home run by Cooper in the first and an RBI double by Charlson Croes (FR, Orenjestad, Aruba) in the fourth.

Things got interesting in the fifth.  The Pioneers scored on a two-out error and an a pair of RBI singles, cutting the lead to just one.  Bay managed to strand the bases loaded in the frame and escape with the lead.

The Norse formulated an answer quickly.  Croes singled to drive in a run, which was followed by an RBI double off the bat of Tyler Darmogray (FR, Gladstone, MI).  Gomersall punctuated the big inning with a resounding home run to left field, putting Bay back up five heading into the bottom of the sixth. 

"It felt great," Gomersall said. "I had had a couple of singles, but I was up there trying to get a good barrel and keep the train rolling. It felt good to finally get one to go. I stepped in, and I told myself that I'm not trying to do too much, I'm just trying to enjoy it. I knew the wind was howling out to center field, so I was just looking for a middle-away fastball. But I got ahead in the count and he hung me a breaking ball. So, I thought, why not just turn on it a little bit? And that's what happened."

Delta was not done yet.  Caiden Larkin (FR) led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run.  After an error allowed another run to score, Jey Olivarez (FR) doubled to drive in a run, cutting the lead to two.

The Norse got some breathing room in the seventh.  Creten scored on a passed ball and Tyler Darmogray (FR, Gladstone, MI) touched home on an error.

Gomersall got Delta to go down in order sealing the series sweep for Bay.

Thijs Rijpstra (FR, Dongen, Netherlands) picked up the win.  He struck out six in his four and two-thirds innings of work.  Only one of the five runs he gave up were earned.  Gomersall worked the final two innings for the save.

The Norse keep their playoff hopes alive and are banking on help from a couple of teams.  Bay needs Mid Michigan to lose in four games.  They will face Delta College on Tuesday, April 30 for a doubleheader.  The two teams split a doubleheader when they met at Delta College on April 15.  Mid Michigan will then make up two games against Grand Rapids on Wednesday, May 1.

Bay needs to take care of their own business as well.  They host Alpena Community College on Tuesday and need to win both games to stay alive.  Bay won the first game in Alpena 7-2 but saw a four-run lead slip through their hands in game two, and lost 5-4.