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North Branch 19, Spring Lake Park 10

With a few solid cracks of the bat and a lot of timely hitting, the North Branch baseball team brought in the new baseball season with a some major noise.

In the top of the first inning, the visiting Vikings bursted onto the scene at Spring Lake Park with six runs. Hits by Tyler Ball, Dan Schoess, Joe Johnson, Drew Lundquist, Kyle Grote and Matt Becklin provided a quick spark to the Vikings fiery hitting. "We just came out ready to hit today," Head Coach Steve Christensen said. "And we kept patient at the plate."

Meanwhile, on the mound. Becklin started the game for the Vikes. Although the outing was a little rocky for him, he did enough while the North Branch offense piled up runs.

After SLP had put up two runs in the bottom of the first inning, the Vikes offense put another run on the board in the second to make the score 7-2. The Panthers answered that run, however, with one of their own to make it 7-3.

After two scoreless innings by the Vikings and a two-run third inning by the Panthers, the score stood at 7-5 and Grote entered the game as the pitcher.

Again, it was the offense that did the major damage. This time, a four-run inning stretched the lead to 11-5 in the fifth inning, and it was looking pretty good for the Vikings.

Grote didn't have his best outing either, though, and it kept the Panthers in the game. In the bottom half of the fifth inning, the Panthers added three runs to their total to pull back within three at 11-8. The Viking onslaught just wouldn't stop, though.

Three more runs in the sixth inning extended the lead back to six, and even though Spring Lake Park answered with two more runs in the bottom of the inning, North Branch sealed the deal with a five-run seventh inning. The big inning put an eight-run gap in between the teams and left Spring Lake Park grasping for confidence heading into their final at-bat.

Grote shut them down in the final inning, though, and earned the win, pitching four relief innings and striking out four while giving up three earned runs. Becklin's line was three innings, four earned runs and three strikeouts.

The offense is what really shot the guys to a win, though. The two-three-four hitters really came through, going a combined eight-for-16 with eight runs and 10 runs-batted in. The trio, seniors Dan Schoess, Joe Johnson and Drew Lundquist, was unstoppable in this game. Schoess went three-for-five with four runs and two RBIs, Johnson went three-for-five with one homerun, three runs and four RBIs, and Lundquist went two-for-six with one run, one stolen base and four RBIs.

Those three were the leaders of the hit parade that also included shortstop Tyler Ball, who was two-for-four with three runs, Becklin, who went two-for-three with two walks, two runs and two RBIs, pulling double duty on the mound and at the plate.

Third basemen Matt Lutgen also went two-for-two with one run, two RBIs and a triple. Lane Noyes and Grote each stroked one hit for the Vikes.

The win was a nice confidence builder for the Vikings, as they had been stuck inside most of the preseason without much field time. "It was great to finally get outside and play some baseball. I hope that it continues!," Christensen noted. "Everyone seemed excited to get outside and see some game action. Everyone we brought to the game today got in the game in some capacity."

The win was the first of the season and the first of the North Suburban Conference schedule. Although the hitting was on point, Christensen knows there needs to be some adjustments in pitching and fielding. "There are still improvements to make after one game," he said. "But this was a game where many positives were seen."

The Vikings took on Totino-Grace at home earlier this week in their second conference tilt and play at St. Francis tonight, April 9, in a NSC match up.

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