SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Yellowjacket baseball team has picked the right time to get on a roll. After a slow start to the 2022 campaign, first-year head coach TJ Oakes has the Yellowjackets playing their best baseball of the season, as they hit a stretch run that includes eight games in the final week.

The Yellowjackets opened the week with a big win in the rain over North Central Sunday, and Tuesday, in arguably the nicest weather they've seen at home, the Yellowjackets finished off a season sweep of Northland, reached the .500 mark for the season, and extended their winning streak.

Not a bad day's work.
 
Despite falling behind early, the Yellowjackets came from behind to down the Lumberjacks 10-5 in a contest where they were the visiting team at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.
 
The Yellowjackets (15-15, 11-4 UMAC) have now won six straight games and are 11-2 in their last 13 games. After play Tuesday, the Yellowjackets sit third in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference and are nipping at the heels of Northwestern and Crown, the teams occupying the top two spots in the conference.
 
When the Yellowjackets met Northland last week, they fell behind in the first inning but rallied for a walk-off win in extra innings. No extra time was needed in this one, however.
 
The Yellowjackets opened the scoring in the top of the first when Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village) came around to score on a single to right by Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd Senior).
 
Northland answered in a big way in the bottom of the first inning. Yellowjacket starter Jack Rheineck (St. Louis Park, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's School) ran the count full on six of the first seven hitters on the way to a 49-pitch inning, and the LumberJacks scored four times to move in front 4-1 after one.
 
Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) led off the top of the second with a double to left and two hitters later Jordan Trimble (Victorville, Calif./Grandview (Colo.)) brought him home with a single to cut into the deficit. Later in the inning Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) poked a 2-2 pitch through the right side, bringing home two more runs, tying the game 4-4.
 
After a rough first inning, Rheineck found his groove, and needed just nine pitches to retire the side in the second, and got a key double play in the third to keep it even.
 
It stayed tied until the fifth when the Yellowjackets blew things open. A bases loaded walk to Trimble broke the tie, and Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) followed with a bases clearing double to left center, giving the Yellowjackets an 8-4 lead.

Northland again mounted a threat in the sixth, but for the second time in the game the Yellowjackets snuffed out the threat with a timely double play.
 
With the game still within reach, the Yellowjackets got some insurance in the eighth. Garcia's hit to the mound forced an error and two more runs came in to give the Yellowjackets a 10-4 lead.

Northland got one run back in the ninth with a solo home run to right, but it was too little, too late and the Yellowjackets went home with the win.
 
Fredrikson finished the afternoon with three hits and two runs scored, while McNosky went 2-for-4, scored a run and drove in three to pace the Yellowjackets at the plate.
 
Rheineck didn't complete the requisite five innings to earn the victory, going 4.1 innings and allowing four runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out five before yielding the mound to Ethan Coady (Toronto, Ontario/Etobicoke School of the Arts). The freshman from Toronto, Ontario went the rest of the way, allowing a run on two hits in 4.2 innings to earn his first collegiate win. He is now 1-1 on the season.

It's a quick turnaround for the Yellowjackets, who are back in action Wednesday on the road at Martin Luther, playing a game that was originally scheduled for April 25. The opening pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the MLC Baseball Field.