FIELD TWP- The North Woods baseball team hosted a double-header on Tuesday against Littlefork-Big Falls and came away with a pair of close wins, 6-5 and 3-1.
Levi Chauklin drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the first to bring Louie Panichi home from third for the game’s first run.
Panichi started on the mound for the Grizzlies and held LBF in check for their first two at-bats, and scored again on an RBI single by Alex Burckhardt in the second to up the lead to 2-0.
LBF evened things up in the third, getting scores on an error and a steal of home, then took a 4-2 lead in the fourth courtesy of another error and a run-scoring bunt.
North Woods rallied in the bottom half of the inning. Burckhardt was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, bringing home John Warren from third. A Talen Jarshaw single brought Nick Pierce home to tie the game 4-4, but the Grizzlies weren’t finished. Eli Smith came to the plate with the bases loaded and lined a single to right field, scoring both Panichi and Burckhardt.
That was enough for the win in the five-inning game as LBF mustered just one run in the top of the fifth.
The Grizzlies turned discipline at the plate into ten walks and four timely hits against just six strikeouts. Panichi picked up the win, with Jarshaw working two and a third innings of relief.
The second game was a low scoring affair, with the Grizzlies getting on the board in the first on an LBF error and picked up two more runs in the late innings.
Chauklin went all the way on the mound for North Woods, giving up only one run on four hits while ringing up four strikeouts. Burckhardt led the Grizzlies with two hits, one a double, while Chauklin and Jarshaw were credited with RBIs.