MANKATO, Minn. – It's been a tough go for the Yellowjacket baseball team of late, as the offense has been a little hard to come by in recent games. Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, the trend continued Saturday.
 
The 'Jackets scored just two runs on the day to go along with 10 hits, falling twice at Bethany Lutheran. The Vikings took the opener 4-0 before winning the nightcap 13-2 in seven innings. The Yellowjackets now stand at 9-13 overall and 2-4 in UMAC play.
 
Game One
Typically, teams can survive solo home runs. But when teams are struggling to score like the Yellowjackets are, they can be hard to overcome. That was the case in Saturday's opener.
 
Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) was solid on the mound, giving up three runs on seven hits to go along with six strikeouts across six innings. All three Bethany Lutheran runs came on solo home runs – one in the second inning and two in the sixth inning, but the Yellowjackets wouldn't be able to overcome the long ball on this day.
 
Bethany Lutheran would add the final run of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning off Yellowjacket reliever David Dibble (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper).
 
The Yellowjackets had four hits in the game – one each from Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village), Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd), Ryan Castaneda (San Pedro, Calif./Junipero Serra) and Nick Zezulka (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village).
 
Game Two
Bethany Lutheran opened the scoring with a single run in the bottom of the second inning before adding three more in the bottom of the third against Yellowjacket starter Elliot Danhoff (Gladstone, Mich./Gladstone).
 
The Yellowjackets would cut the deficit in half in the top of the fourth.
 
Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) led off with a single and stole second. Flanagan reached on an error and Castaneda followed with a single to center field, scoring Rolf with the first Yellowjacket run of the day. Two hitters later Nick Shea (Pengilly, Minn./Greenway) was hit by a pitch, loading the bases and Flanagan came home on a fielder's choice, making it a 4-2 contest.

That's as close as the Yellowjackets would get. Bethany Lutheran blew things open in the bottom of the fourth, scoring six times against Danhoff and reliever Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs).
 
The Vikings would score three more times in the sixth and close out the Yellowjackets in the seventh, ending the game with a final score of 13-2.
 
Castaneda finished off a good day at the plate going 2-for-3 and driving in a run. Rolf, Flanagan, Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) and Isaac Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) also had hits for the Yellowjackets.
 
Danhoff went the first 3.1 innings, allowing five runs (two earned) on three hits, but he walked seven to go along with seven strikeouts before giving way to Garcia, who allowed five runs on three hits in a third of an innings. Brenden Kruger (Cottage Grove, Minn./Hastings) went the rest of the way, allowing three runs on four hits in 2.1 innings.
 
The Yellowjackets return home Wednesday, April 21 when they host Hamline in a non-conference doubleheader. The first pitch at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex is set for 1:30 p.m.