SUPERIOR, Wis. – After Saturday's slugfest that produced 10 home runs, 37 runs and two victories, the Yellowjacket baseball team was back at it Sunday afternoon, facing Northland College for the second straight day.
 
It was a tale of two games Sunday, as the offenses again brought the big bats in the opener before settling in for a pitcher's duel in the second game. In the end, the Yellowjackets completed their second straight sweep, taking the first game 22-10 before outlasting the Lumberjacks 5-3 in the finale.
 
With the wins the Yellowjackets (6-4, 0-0 UMAC) have now won six games in a row and moved two games above .500. It's the longest winning streak since the 'Jackets won eight straight games from April 24 through May 6, 2018.
 
Game One
It didn't take long for the offenses to get rolling in the opener, as Northland opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning, but the Yellowjackets answered quickly and in a big way.
 
Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village) got it started, taking the second pitch he saw to lead off the bottom of the first over the fence in left field to tie the game. Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) followed with a solo home run of his own, sending the next pitch over the fence in center to put the Yellowjackets in front.
 
The Yellowjackets blew the game open in the bottom of the second, sending 15 players to the plate and scoring ten to put things out of reach.
 
Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) brought home a run with a double down the left field line and Fredrikson followed with an RBI single up the middle. Two batters later Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd), who hit a long three-run home run in the first inning of the first game Saturday, hit his second long ball of the weekend, launching a shot over the fence in left field to increase the lead to 8-1. Later in the second Isaac Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) hit a three-run shot of his own, pulling the first pitch he saw over the fence in left field to increase the Yellowjacket lead to 12-2.
 
Northland began chipping away at the lead, scoring twice in the fourth to make it a nine-run game. Then in the fifth they scored four times, hitting four consecutive solo home runs to make it a 12-7 game.
 
As quickly as the gap closed, it reopened as the Yellowjackets got all four runs back in the bottom of the fifth. And then some.
 
A pair of walks started the inning and a perfectly placed bunt by Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) brought the first run of the frame home. Another run scored on a sacrifice fly before Nick Shea (Pengilly, Minn./Greenway) doubled to bring home Rolf and make it 15-8. Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) singled through the right side to bring home Shea, and then two hitters and a pitching change later Fugere connected for his second home run of the game, a two-run shot, to put the Yellowjackets in front 18-6.
 
Northland scored once in the sixth, but again the Yellowjackets countered in the bottom of the inning. Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) led off the inning by homering to left field. Later in the inning Nolan Wolf (Parker, Colo./St. Anthony Village) provided an RBI single as the 'Jackets took a 20-7 lead.

The Lumberjacks added three runs in the seventh on their fifth home run of the game, but the Yellowjackets closed them out for the 20-10 win.
 
A balanced Yellowjacket attack pounded out 16 hits, with Fugere leading the way with three hits, three runs, and five runs batted in. Fredrikson and Rolf also had multi-hit games.
 
Brenden Kruger (Cottage Grove, Minn./Hastings) got the start on the mound for the Yellowjackets and picked up the win, improving to 1-1 on the year. Kruger allowed three earned runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out two. Mike Rodriguez (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech), Garcia and Gunner Johnson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) combined to pitch the last three innings.
 
Game Two
In the first three games of the weekend, the Yellowjackets and Lumberjacks combined for 24 home runs and 89 runs in three marathon contests. By the time the fourth game rolled around, fatigue appeared to set in, and the result was a pitcher's duel that was done in a snappy one hour and 33 minutes.
 
Flanagan started for the Yellowjackets, while Seth Hackbarth took to the mound for the Lumberjacks. The starters pounded the strike zone, holding the hitters at bay and keeping the big innings to a minimum.
 
The Yellowjackets got most of their offense in the bottom of the second.
 
Ryan Castaneda (San Pedro, Calif./Junipero Serra) started the inning with a single and went to second when Nick Zezulka (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) singled. A sacrifice moved both runners into scoring position. Isaac Grothe (East Bethel, Minn./St. Francis) and Rhodes had RBI singles and later in the inning Alex Aguilar (Simi Valley, Calif./Westlake ) had an RBI double to put the Yellowjackets in front 4-0.
 
Northland scored twice in the fifth, but the Yellowjackets in the bottom of the inning when Rolf and Castaneda put together doubles to make it a 5-2 game. Northland added one more in the sixth before Elliot Danhoff (Gladstone, Mich./Gladstone) came in and closed the door with a perfect seventh to preserve the Yellowjacket win.
 
Rolf, Castaneda and Zezulka each had two hits to lead the way for the Yellowjackets, who had 10 hits as a team.
 
Flanagan got the win to even his record on the year at 1-1. He gave up three runs on six hits to go along with five strikeouts. Danhoff got the save, his first of the year.
 
The Yellowjackets will be back in action Wednesday, March 24 when they host UMAC foe North Central in a non-conference doubleheader. The first pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.