SUPERIOR, Wis. - After more than seven months, the Yellowjacket baseball team finally returned to the field Saturday.

The Yellowjackets split a doubleheader with Grinnell Sunday, March 8, and then a few days later had their 2020 season halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Saturday was supposed to be the first competition of their fall season - a pair of seven-inning games at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex. Things looked tenuous, as a brief snow fall Saturday morning left the field snow covered into the afternoon. But a few brooms, and a little help from some well-timed rain, the turf was cleared and ready for play with a 2:30 p.m. first pitch.

Team Black jumped out to a big lead, only to have Team Yellow come all the back and force extra innings. In the bottom of the tenth, Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) singled up the middle, plating the winning run as Black won 10-9. The second game of the day was suspended after four innings, with the teams tied 2-2, and will be completed at a later date.

Game 1
Yellow got the scoring started in the top of the first inning when Nick Shea (Pengilly, Minn./Greenway) blasted a double to deep center field with two outs. He came around to score when Ryan Castaneda (San Pedro, Calif./Junipero Serra) followed with a single to right field.

Freshman Jack Barnett (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) got the start on the mound for Yellow, and he ran into difficulties in the bottom of the inning. Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) led off with a walk and came home on Isaac Grothe's (East Bethel, Minn./St. Francis) double. Flanagan walked and Chrstian Garcia was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with nobody out. Two hitters later Matthew Tappe doubled, scoring two and Jack Besaw followed with an RBI-single. Black would send 11 men to the plate and score six times to take a 6-1 lead after one.

Yellow got a few runs back in the top of the third when the first four hitters reached. Iduan Nater (Arecibo, Puerto Rico/Vocacional Antonio Lucchetti) and Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village) walked and Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) singled to load the bases. Shea followed with a two-run double and it was a one-run game, 6-5. In the bottom of the inning Black got a few of the runs back. Tappe, Besaw and Josh Hukriede (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) reached to start the inning and, thanks to a sacrifice fly, fielder's choice and an error, all three came around to score, pushing the lead to 9-5.

The Yellow pitching staff then held Black at bay, allowing its offense to start clawing its way back into the game.

Bryce Meverden (Birnamwood, Wis./Wittenberg-Birnamwood) led off the fifth with a double and two hitters later Castaneda drove him in to make it 9-6. An error brought home Castaneda and it was a two-run game through five. In the sixth Yellow made it all the way back when Nater scored on an error and Fredrikson came in on a Castaneda single to tie the game 9-9.

That's when the offensive showdown turned into a duel of pitching and defense. Neither team was able to put a threat together in the seventh, eighth, or ninth innings.

In the bottom of the tenth Corbin Taylor (Hurley, Wis./Hurley) struck out to lead off the inning, but the ball got away from the catcher and Taylor reached. The mistake would prove costly as Taylor moved into scoring position on a fielder's choice. He would move to third on a sacrifce and come across with the winning run on Flanagan's single, making the final score 10-9.

Not only did Flanagan drive in the winning run, he also got the win on the mound after pitching four scoreless innings without giving up a hit. He walked two and struck out three. Besaw and Rhodes led the way at the plate with two hits apiece. Black finished the game with nine hits.

For Yellow Castaneda had a big game, going 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored. He also turned in several spectacular plays at first base. Fredrikson, Shea and Nater also all had two hits in the game.

Game 2
The strong pitching and defense carried over into the early innings of the second game.

After two scoreless innings, Black took the lead in the botto of the third. Josh Hukriede (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) led off with a single. He went to second on a ground out and then to third on a fielder's choice. Hukriede came in with the game's first run on a Tappe single up the middle.

Yellow scratched out a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead. Castaneda singled to lead off the inning and then moved up on an error. Two batters later Barnett, the pitcher that struggled early in the opener, tripled to deep center field, scoring two and putting Yellow in front 2-1.

In the bottom of the fourth Ryan Buckallew (Little Falls, Minn./Little Falls) and Caleb Beane drew back-to-back one-out walks. Buckallew stole third and then scored on an error, tying the game at 2-2.

The teams finished the fourth inning when the game was suspended. The teams will finish the game at a later date.

The second doubleheader of the Superior Best-of-Five Super Series is scheduled for Saturday, October 24. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.