SUPERIOR, Wis. – Earlier this season, the Yellowjacket baseball team hosted Northland in a four-game series where the offense came easy. The teams combined for 97 runs in the four games, which were swept by the Yellowjackets to open up the 2021 home season.
 
Those games were of the non-conference variety, and when the teams met again Tuesday morning and afternoon, they were playing two games that had playoff implications – the Yellowjackets entered the day sitting fifth in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference standings, while Northland was right behind them at No. 6.
 
The Yellowjackets had a big inning early in the opener and rolled to a 14-4 win. Northland bounced back in the second game, defeating the Yellowjackets 9-5 to gain the split Tuesday at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.

Game One
The Yellowjackets (13-19, 6-8 UMAC) came out swinging, and running in the first game, using the bats and the legs to put up a crooked number in the first inning.
 
Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) singled to start things and then proceeded to steal second, third, and home to give the Yellowjackets the lead. Rolf stole five bases in the game and now has 20 on the year, which broke what was believed to be the single-season school record of 18, set twice, first by UW-Superior Hall of Famer Ray Kosey and, more recently, but Chad Patko. Even more impressive, is Rolf has yet to be caught stealing in 2021.
 
Rolf accounted for half of the Yellowjackets' 10 steals in the game.
 
Walks and errors helped the Yellowjackets increase their lead in the first before Nick Zezulka (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) doubled to right field to bring in two runs and Josh Huckriede singled to bring in another. After one the Yellowjackets led 6-0.
 
Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) hit a one-out triple in the third and two hitters later Huckriede brought him one to increase the lead to 7-0.

After going down quietly in the first three innings, Northland began to get to Yellowjacket starter Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) in the fourth, hitting back-to-back home runs to cut into the Yellowjacket lead. They would get a two-run shot in the fifth, shaving the Yellowjacket lead to 7-4.
 
The Yellowjackets would get all of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth. Rolf and Mike Rodriguez (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech) led off with back-to-back singles. Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) plated Rolf, and two hitters later Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) cleared the bases, hitting a long home run to put the Yellowjackets up 11-4.
 
It stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth when the Yellowjackets closed things out. With the bases loaded, Rhodes delivered a run with a single to center. Hukriede drew a bases loaded walk, and Rolf ended the game with a single through the right side, making the final 14-4.
 
Rolf went 3-for-6 and scored twice to go along with his five steals. Zezulka, Rhodes, and Hukriede all had two hits to lead the Yellowjacket 13-hit attack. Huckriede also drove in three.
 
Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) got the win, improving his record to 4-4 on the year. He allowed four runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out 11. Matt Tappe (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village) pitched the final two innings.

Game Two
The Yellowjackets again got things started early in the second game, scoring twice in the bottom of the first when Flanagan launched his team-leading fifth home run of the year deep over the fence in right to make it 2-0.
 
Joey Barker (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) started for the Yellowjackets and set Northland down in order in the first two innings, but the Lumberjacks' bats woke up in the third and they posted five runs, including another two-run home run to pull in front 5-2.
 
Northland added a single run in the fourth before the Yellowjackets came back to cut the deficit.
 
Isaac Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) reached on an error and Rhodes followed with a single through the right side. Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) bunted for a single and then an error allowed everyone to move up a base, with Fugere scoring the third run for the Yellowjackets. Two more runs came in on a Mike Rodriguez (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech) single, and the 'Jackets were within one at 6-5.
 
The biggest threat of the game for the Yellowjackets came in the sixth, when they loaded the bases with nobody out. Northland got out of the jam, however, turning a triple play to hang onto the one-run lead.
 
Northland got an insurance run in the eighth and then padded the lead with two runs in the ninth, making the final score 9-5.
 
Barker went eight innings on the mound for the Yellowjackets, allowing seven runs (six earned) on nine hits. He walked one and struck out nine. Garcia pitched the ninth, allowing two runs on two hits to go along with three walks.
 
Rodriguez, Flanagan and McNosky all had two hits for the Yellowjackets, who as a team had 11 in the game.
 
The Yellowjackets will close the regular season with a road doubleheader at Martin Luther Saturday, May 8. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in New Ulm, Minnesota.