MYRTLE BEACH, SC – The Bay Norse Baseball Team (2-8) finished their spring trip with a pair of losses to the Brunswick Community College Dolphins (8-5), falling by scores of 16-8 and 13-3.
The Norse played from a deficit in the first game after giving up four in the first inning and four in the first. Kenny Leiner (FR, Raleigh, NC) capped off the early scoring with a homerun to deep right field.
The Norse responded in the bottom of the second when they loaded the bases with no one out. Drake Forrest (FR, Gladstone, MI) was hit by a pitch to drive in their first run. Abel Rodriguez (FR, Los Fresnos, TX) singled in a run, and Hector Araguayan (FR, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) drove in two more with a single to center. Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch, and David Ibn Ezra (SO, Tel Aviv, Israel) hit an infield single to bring in another run, making the score 8-6 in favor of the Dolphins.
Brunswick added a run in the third, and an error brought in two more in the fourth.
Bay closed to within two in the bottom half of the fourth. Tanner Halvorson (SO, Eau Claire, WI) belted a deep homerun to dead center, a two-run shot.
That would be as close as the Norse would get. They added a run in the fifth, and then got a power surge of their own. Alex Reed (SO, Richburg, SC) hit a towering two-run homerun to right in the fifth, and then followed it up with a three-run blast in the seventh.
David Warth (FR, Shallotte, NC) earned the win in relief. He threw three innings and gave up four hits, three runs, two earned, walked one and struck out two.
Nick Goebert was saddled with the loss for the Norse. In five innings he gave up 13 runs, only six of which were earned. He gave up 11 hits, walked two, and struck out four.
Araguayan and Halvorson each had two RBI.
The Dolphins jumped on top early in the second game as well. Three hits and three walks plated five runs, putting Bay in another hole.
The Norse responded again as Brunswick pitching walked the bases loaded, then walked in a run. After Sartorelli drew a one out walk to bring in a second run, Rodriguez grounded into a fielder's choice that scored another run.
The Dolphins opened a lead with four runs in the third, and then added three in the fifth off of Reed's third homerun of the day.
Case Stroup (FR, Apex, NC) was credited with the win, working two innings in relief.
Dalton Graham (FR, Sault Ste. Marie, MI) took the loss.
The Norse return north and will play next on March 12 at Highland Community College (IL). They will finish that weekend with a four game series with Triton on March 13 and 14.