SUPERIOR, Wis. – Saturday afternoon the Yellowjacket baseball team earned a hard-fought doubleheader sweep of Bethany Lutheran, stretching its winning streak to a season-best three games, courtesy of a Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd Senior) walk-off home run in the ninth.
 
For the Yellowjackets to extend the winning streak to four, they would have to knock off the Vikings for a third-straight game, under less than desirable conditions on a blustery day at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.
 
The third game of the weekend series was another nail-biter, but on this day the Vikings came out on top. Bethany Lutheran scored a pair of runs in the top of the 11th inning and then held off the Yellowjackets in the bottom of the frame to pick up the 8-6 win.
 
The Yellowjackets (7-14, 3-3 UMAC) dug themselves an early hole before rallying to tie the game, but weren't able to complete the comeback and pick up the win.

Bethany Lutheran jumped on the Yellowjackets and starter Riley Harbaugh (Banks, Ore./Banks) with a big first inning, scoring six times before the Yellowjackets came to bat.
 
In the bottom of the first inning Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village), who had four hits in Saturday's doubleheader, led off with a double and came in to score on a Flanagan single to get the Yellowjackets on the board.

The 'Jackets continued to chip away at the deficit, and pulled to within two in the bottom o the second. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Jonny Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) singled to left-center to plate Jordan Trimble (Victorville, Calif./Grandview (Colo.)). Walk loaded the bases and the Vikings changed pitchers, leading to a Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) fielder's choice to bring in another run. A failed pick off attempt allowed the Yellowjackets to execute a double steal, with Rhodes coming across to make it a 6-4 game after two innings.
 
It stayed that way until the bottom of the fourth when Payton Steiner (Baraboo, Wis./Baraboo) reached on a one-out single. Two hitters later Ryan Castaneda (San Pedro, Calif./Junipero Serra) brought him in to pull the Yellowjackets to within a run. They came all the way back in the bottom of the fifth when Rhodes doubled down the left-field line to score Trimble, making it 6-6.
 
Pitching and defense took over from there, and the teams went into extra innings tied. The Vikings got the go-ahead run on third in the tenth, but the Yellowjackets worked out of the jam. Bethany Lutheran broke through in the 11th, and the Yellowjackets were unable to pull off a second rally, going down in order in the bottom of the inning.
 
The Yellowjackets had 10 hits in the game, led by Castaneda, Rhodes and Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) with two hits apiece.
 
Harbaugh settled down after the rough first inning and pitched 5.1 innings, giving up six runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out one. He gave way to Jack Rheineck (St. Louis Park, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's School) in the top of the sixth, and Rheineck went the rest of the way, allowing two runs on three hits while walking two and striking out one. He took the loss and fell to 1-2 on the year.
 
It's a quick turnaround for the Yellowjackets, as they will host Northland College Monday at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.