In a battle of the two top teams in their district, Montague lost a doubleheader to North Muskegon at Marsh Field Friday night. The Norsemen rallied to win the opener, 5-3, before taking a 12-1 win in game two.
The Wildcats (14-7) led much of game one after scoring three times in the first inning off Norsemen ace Logan Slimko, a Dartmouth commit. Eli Petersen opened the scoring with a RBI single, and Connor McKeown added a two-run single later in the inning. The Norsemen, though, scored four times in the fifth to take the lead. Oliver Fricke had the winning two-run single.
Slimko shut the door after first-inning struggles, striking out 16 Montague batters in 6 1/3 innings. The Wildcats loaded the bases with one out after Slimko hit his pitch-count maximum, but reliever Jaxon Bean recorded two strikeouts to end the game. Jack Degen had two hits for Montague.
Game two got out of hand early thanks to eight North Muskegon runs in the second inning. Cole Herremans fired 3 1/3 innings of relief, allowing two hits and no earned runs and striking out three.
