Playing its second doubleheader in a row, the Superior High School baseball team was swept by the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks 10-0 in six innings and 4-3 Tuesday evening at Morrie Arnovich Field.
The Spartans also defeated and ended in a tie at Ashland on Friday. Tuesday's losses drops Superior to 6-10-1 on the season.
Superior trailed just 2-0 after five innings when Grand Rapids exploded for eight runs in the top of the sixth to end the game early because of the 10-run rule.
Ryan Myhre started on the mound for the Spartans with relief help from Jordan McDonald.
Grant Rindal (5-2) suffered the loss in game two. In four innings, he allowed three runs, and seven hits while striking out five. Dane Sislo finished up, allowing one run on two hits while striking out one and walking four in three innings.
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Trailing 4-1 entering the seventh inning the Spartans rallied for two runs before losing by a run.
Trent Olson and Rindal led off with walks. Spencer Severson followed with an RBI single to score Olson and Rindal scored on a wild pitch. The game ended when Severson was tagged out at home on a failed squeeze attempt and a ground out.
Nik Mattson scored Superior's first run in the third when he singled and later scored on a wild pitch.
The Spartans are back in action this weekend at the Hibbing Wood Bat Tournament. Superior opens against the host Blue Jackets at 7 p.m. Friday. The Spartans also play Thief River Falls at 12:30 p.m. and Proctor at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
SPARTAN SPIN: The SHS JV split, winning 4-2 and losing 8-5. Erick Anderson allowed four runs on eight hits while striking out three and walking one. Logan Griffith pitched one scoreless inning. Griffith and Grant Hanson each had two hits. Griffith started the second game and pitched four innings. Morgen Moen pitched the final three innings to get the win. He allowed three runs on three hits while walking three and striking out four. The Spartans had 12 hits, with Erick Anderson leading the way with three. Griffith, Jake Libal and Will Mullens each had two hits and Pete Guski, Brandon Moe and Phil McCotter pitched in with one hit apiece.
Ashland DH
Superior won the opening game of a doubleheader 5-0 over the Ashland Oredockers Friday at Northland College in Ashland. The second game was called due to darkness with the score tied 5-5.
Rindal was the winning pitcher, tossing a 1-hitter with 11 strikeouts and one walk in six innings. Jordan McDonald pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing one hit and one walk.
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Offensively for Superior, Jordan Hughes was 2-for-3 with two RBIs; Severson was 2-for-4 with one RBI; Paul Edwards was 2-for-3 and Sislo was 1-for-3.
"In addition to Grant's excellent pitching performance, we played some great defense in the first game, including Hughes, who had made two great diving catches in right," SHS coach Don Dembroski said.
Game two was called due to darkness after the sixth inning, with the score tied 5-5.
Superior scored two runs in the top of the sixth to tie it on a bases-loaded walk to Colton Yepma, scoring Hughes, and a suicide squeeze by Edwards, scoring Sislo, who had also waked.
Superior scored three in the first inning. Mattson's two-run triple scored Rindal, who was hit by a pitch, and Severson, who walked. Mattson later scored on Hughes' sac fly.
Ashland tied the game in the second on two hits, a hit batter, two walks and two errors. Ashland added two more runs in the fourth on three hits and an another error.
Severson started for Superior, allowing five runs (two earned) on seven hits, two walks and a hit batter in four innings. McDonald finished up, striking out one in two innings.
According to NFHS and WIAA rules, a game called due to darkness is treated as a suspended game, but the game can be treated as complete if agreed upon by both coaches, since it went beyond five innings and both teams had an equal number of at bats.
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"Because we're getting late into the season, and because this will not impact the outcome at the top of the conference, it's unlikely we will finish this game, thus it will be treated as a tie," Dembroski said.
SPARTAN SPIN: The SHS JV lost 13-3 and 8-5. In the opener, Moen and Phil McCotter pitched for the Spartans, who had five hits, one each from Hanson, Griffith, Sean O'Neill, Payton Flanders and Guski. In the second game the Spartans were led by Nick Hesselgrave's three hits, including a double, and Hanson's two hits.
SPARTAN SPIN: The Spartan JV baseball team split a doubleheader with Grand Rapids, losing the first game 4-2 and winning the second game 8-5. Erick Anderson started the first game and pitched 6 innings allowing 4 runs on 8 hits while striking out 3 and walking 1. Logan Griffith pitched 1 scoreless inning of relief. Griffith and Grant Hanson each had 2 hits for the Spartans. Griffith started the second game and pitched 4 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits while striking out 2 and walking 1. Morgen Moen pitched the final 3 innings to get the win. He allowed 3 runs on 3 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4. The Spartans had 12 hits, with Erick Anderson leading the way with 3. Griffith, Jake Libal, and Will Mullens each had 2 hits and Pete Guski, Brandon Moe, and Phil McCotter pitched in with 1 hit apiece.
