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The North Branch baseball team concluded their busiest week of the season with a split doubleheader against two Northern teams, but earlier in the week, sophomore Tom Kinsella hurled a one-hitter in a five-inning shellacking of the St. Francis Saints.

Totino-Grace 8, North Branch 7

Facing off against the always-talented Eagles from Totino-Grace, North Branch found themselves at a huge disadvantage early.

Some defensive miscues and some shaky pitching by Tyler Ball left the Vikings in a 6-2 hole early on in the game. However, in a big sixth inning, the Vikings plated five runs to go ahead of Totino-Grace 7-6.

Going into the bottom of the seventh inning, senior Matt Lutgen -- one of North Branch's trusty arms this year -- was pitching.

Lutgen was one out away from earning the win for the Vikings. With Eagles on first and second base and the count at three and two, Lutgen delivered a nice pitch, that Ben Kimball poked over first base and in front of right fielder Travis Giem.

The Totino Grace runners had taken off with the pitch, and one scored by the time Giem was getting the ball back in. An errant throw to the infield allowed the other Eagle to come all the way around from first and score the winning run.

"That was a tough way to end a game," Head Coach Steve Christensen lamented. "Having said that, it wasn't the last play, but the whole game that ended up losing it. We found a way to come back and challenge Totino to make plays."

Although the frustrating loss hit the Vikings hard, as it was their first of the season, there was still good things in the game. "We're still hitting the ball well and hope to continue that," Christensen said. "Our pitching has kept us in the ball games and our defense has been pretty good."

Leading the offense was Tanner Danks and Sean Graff. Danks went three-for-three with one run and one RBI. Graff went one-for-four, but his one hit was important, as he crushed a 350-foot blast to dead center with two guys on base. "Sean was all smiled as he ran around the bases," Christensen said of the dinger that completed North Branch's short lived comeback.

Other Vikings that collected hits were Ball, Tyler Zondlo, Tim Katka and Thomas Kinsella.

Ball was shaky as the starter, going four and two-thirds innings, giving up five hits, four walks and five runs. Lutgen went the last two innings, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk.

North Branch 11, St. Francis 1

The Vikes got back to their winning ways with a 10-run mercy rule game against conference opponent St. Francis.

The Saints got on the board first when starting pitcher Kinsella walked two batters in the first inning. A St. Francis hit scored the runner from second, but it wasn't a sight the Saints would get used to at all on the sunny afternoon.

North Branch answered back with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the first inning, and they would never glance back after that.

Kinsella settled down in the second inning, and mowed St. Francis down one-two-three to get the North Branch offense back up to bat.

They didn't disappoint Kinsella, backing him up with two more runs to stretch the lead to 6-1.

After both teams went scoreless in the third frame, North Branch added three more runs in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth.

While the NB offense -- including some huge hits by Kinsella himself -- was humming along, the starter was equally as impressive on the mound, not allowing another hit after the first inning, and walking only two more Saints over the next four innings.

With St. Francis unable to answer the bell in the bottom of the fifth inning, the game was called due to the high school mercy rule of 10 runs after five innings.

"Thomas pitched very well. Giving up only one hit measures up to a good pitching performance," Christensen understated.

Besides the masterful pitching performance, Kinsella had plenty of help from his defense and the bashing lineup he was a party of. "No errors on defense really helps our innings go quicker," Christensen explained. "We're just not giving the other team extra outs."

On offense, Kinsella and Sean Graff were the stars. Kinsella went two-for-three with one run and three RBIs.

Graff, meanwhile, had his second straight game with a homerun, as he went three-for-four with two runs and four RBIs. The senior was a triple away from hitting for the cycle for North Branch.

Lutgen had a perfect day at the plate, going three-for-three with two runs and two RBIs.

Danks kept his hot season going also. Although he only got one hit, it was his only official at-bat. He found a way to get on base consistently, as he drew two walks and was hit by a pitch. Danks ended up on base four times, and each time he came all the way home.

Ball and Luke LeVasseur each had multi-hit games as Ball went two-for-four and LeVasseur went two-for-three.

Kinsella ended up pitching five innings of one-hit ball with one run, four walks and four punchouts.

Duluth East 6, North Branch 0

Although the Vikings had only played three games so far, they had averaged over nine runs a game.

But, they ran into a hot Duluth East team and just couldn't get the bat on the ball in the opener of their doubleheader against Duluth teams.

The Greyhounds struck early, scoring four runs in the first four innings as the Vikings floundered at the plate.

Although they drew four walks on the game, North Branch only managed two hits.

Duluth East scored two more runs in the fifth inning, and North Branch was never able to string together any threats as the game ended in a 6-0 whitewash in favor of Duluth East.

Ball and Graff were the only Vikings to record a hit.

Lutgen actually pitched a wonderful game, the defense just didn't do him any favors. In five innings, he gave up four runs, but only one was earned on three hits and two walks. Lutgen struck out 10 Greyhounds on the day.

North Branch 6, Duluth Denfeld 5

Hoping to salvage a split out of their doubleheader, North Branch's bats came back alive.

Lutgen, Kinsella and Graff again led the charge on offense, with each of the trio recording at least two hits.

North Branch scored the first four runs of the game in the first three innings, but the Hunters answered back with five runs over the third and fourth innings.

North Branch scored the deciding two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and Kinsella recorded a save for Ball's first win of the season.

Lutgen went three-for-three at the plate with one run. Kinsella went two-for-three with one run and three RBIs and Graff went two-for-three with two runs.

Danks continued to find ways to get on base and come around to score, going one-for-three with one walk and two runs. Katka recorded the other hit for North Branch.

Ball started the game, going six innings and giving up 12 hits and two walks. However, he shut Denfeld down when he needed to, giving up only four earned runs on those 14 baserunners while striking out six. Kinsella pitched one-hit ball in the seventh inning to record the first save of his career.

With the win, North Branch moved to 3-2 on the young season, and 2-1 in the North Suburban Conference.

Their only game left this week is a 4:30 home date with St. Louis Park today.

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