DAVENPORT, Fla. – With a foot of new snow on the ground in Superior, it's a good thing the Yellowjacket baseball team is on the road. Way on the road. Saturday morning, the Yellowjacket baseball team was looking to build on its season-opening win over Augsburg, taking on Beloit College in a pair of seven-inning games at Northeast Regional Park.
 
The Yellowjackets split its first games of 2023 in Florida, taking the opener 3-2 before falling in the second game 8-4. The Yellowjackets now stand 2-1 overall heading into action Monday.

Game One
Like he did in the season opener against Augsburg, Yellowjacket senior lefthander Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) was rock solid on the mound in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Rodriguez set Beloit down in order in the first two innings, allowing the Yellowjackets the chance to jump out in front.
 
In the top of the third inning the Yellowjackets scored twice, getting an RBI-single from Noah Dagostino (Andover, Minn./Andover) to make it 1-0. Dagostino took two more bases when a pickoff attempt went awry, then scored on a Beloit error to make it 2-0.
 
From there the teams settled into a pitcher's duel. Rodriguez allowed just two hits through six innings, while Beloit pitchers Eamon Burke and Ryan Deany did the same to the Yellowjackets.
 
With the victory just three outs away, the Yellowjackets turned the seventh inning over to Jack Rheineck (St. Louis Park, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's School), and for the first time all day the Buccaneers went to work. With one out and a runner on, Beloit's Evan Zenger homered to right field, tying the game. Beloit would get the winning run to second base with two outs, but Rheineck shut the door and the teams went to extra innings.
 
In the top of the eighth Dagostino again got things started, singling to center. He stole second, and then went to third on a wild pitch, putting the go-ahead run 90-feet away with nobody out. Two hitters later, Isaac Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East) brought him home on a sacrifice fly, and it was 3-2 Yellowjackets.
 
Rheineck stayed on and set the Buccaneers down in order in the eighth, preserving the win.
 
The Yellowjackets mustered just three hits in the contest, with Dagostino accounting for two of them.
 
Rodriguez pitched six shutout innings, walking one and striking out four on just two hits. Rheineck got the win, moving to 1-0 on the year, after allowing two runs on three hits in two innings.
 
Game Two
Both teams found the offense a little easier to come by in the second game. After combining for eight hits in the first game, the Yellowjackets and Buccaneers had 19 hits in the second game, with the Yellowjackets accounting for seven of them.
 
In the top of the first inning Beloit roughed up Yellowjacket starter Riley Harbaugh (Banks, Ore./Banks) to the tune of four runs on five hits to take the early lead.

The Yellowjackets answered in the bottom of the second inning, plating three runs of their own.
 
Fugere singled to left and Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) doubled to right-center field, putting two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Fugere scored on a sacrifice fly, and Payton Steiner (Baraboo, Wis./Baraboo) singled home Garcia to cut the lead in half. After a Steiner steal and a groundout, Cole Ondrus (Esko, Minn./Esko) singled him home, pulling the Yellowjackets to within one at 4-3.
 
Beloit extended its lead with a single run in the top of the fourth, but the Yellowjackets answered in the bottom of the inning, when Steiner came around to score on a single by Trey Sybrant (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville Senior), making it 5-4.
 
The Buccaneers closed out the scoring with three runs in the top of the seventh, making the final 8-4.
 
Fugere and Steiner had two hits each to lead the Yellowjackets. Ondrus, Sybrant, Steiner and Max Howell (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) drove in runs for the Yellowjackets.
 
Harbaugh pitched the first 3.1 innings for the Yellowjackets and will be tagged with the loss. His record is 0-1 on the year after he allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits. He struck out two. Ethan Coady (Toronto, Ontario/Etobicoke School of the Arts) allowed three runs on three hits over 3.1 innings, before giving way to Aiden Pfeifer (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) who pitched the final third of an inning.
 
The Yellowjackets are back in action Monday when they play a single game against UW-La Crosse. The first pitch is set for 4 p.m. CDT.