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Saturday April 27, 2024
North Central Jets Baseball Have First Home Games

HERMANSVILLE---History was made on Wednesday in the small Menominee County town of Hermansville as the North Central High School Baseball Team played on its home field for the first time ever.

The new self-funded Jets program made its debut a week ago with a 12-1 win at Stephenson, but Wednesday evening's games were special because they were at home.

North Central was three outs away from a victory, but had a bad inning and lost to the Norway Knights, 10-5. And then in the doubleheader nightcap, Norway won, 10-1.

"It's just been a great community effort to get this thing started," North Central Head Coach Kyle Durow said. "A lot of these kids already play a couple of sports, either baseball or track, or golf.

" A lot of committent takes place."


Tyler Bentley and Seth Polfus Score for Jets
"We had tried about four years to do it and it just didn't happen," said Chip Polfus, who spearheaded the effort to form a club to get baseball approved in the district. "Finally, last October, the school board decided to take a risk and let us have high school baseball.
"
A lot of people have worked very hard to make this happen."

Longtime North Central teacher and cross-country/track coach Jerry Root watched the game with pride. "An historic day, for sure," Root said.

Durow says the start to this inaugural Jets season has been hampered by weather.

"You talk to any coach, and they'll tell you, you can't do much inside," he said. "The principal is not too happy when we hit pop flies and bust the lights in the gym."

And the Jets took the field on Wednesday with a very young lineup. With four starters on their Senior Trip to Chicago, the lineup included seven freshmen in the nine spots.

But the NCA kids, many of whom played with the Norway kids on some successful Little League All-Star teams, did not look out of place on Wednesday.

Freshman pitcher Dawson Bilski kept the Knights off the board for the first two innings, and the Jets would have had the lead had they not had three runners get thrown out on the basepaths in the first two innings, including one at home plate.


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Bobby Kleiman hit gives NCA 5-3 lead
Norway took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI double by Alex Carlson and an RBI single by Bryce Grayvold. But the Jets took the lead in the bottom of the third inning with a three-run rally.

Dawson Bilski drove in two runs with a hit, and then the Jets took the lead as Bobby Kleiman hit a ground ball and Bilski slid home from third base.

The Knights tied the game with a run in the fourth inning on three walks and an error against Jets starter Bilski. Tyler Bray came on to pitch and got a huge strike out with the bases loaded to keep the game tied heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.

North Central took the lead as Bilski had an RBI groundout and Kleiman's second base hit of the game put the Jets in front, 5-3.

And it looked like the Jets would expand their lead in the fifth inning when Seth Polfus launched a long fly ball to left field with runners at first and third.

It did not make it over the left fielder's head, however, and the catch ended the inning.


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NCA takes lead on Bilski slide at plate
So, the Jets went into the sixth inning needing just three more outs to win.

But nothing went right for NCA, as Norway sent 13 men to the plate and scored seven runs on six hits, along with two Jets errors.

Bryce Grayvold and Mike Faull had RBI singles, and Cody Carlson's two-run single gave the Knights more cushion on the scoreboard.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Jets loaded the bases with no outs. But Knights reliever Austin Grayvold got the next three outs to preserve the Norway victory. Bilski and Kleiman both had three base hits to lead the Jets.

Norway (2-3) then won the second game of the doubleheader, 10-1, with the game being called by darkness. North Central is now 1-2 on the season, and the Jets will be back in action on Saturday against the Knights.

This time it will be at the Norway Baseball Invitational at Marion Park. Negaunee and Niagara are also competing at that daylong tournament.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see photos taken by Cody Whitens. Thanks GrandpaCamo for loaning us an SD Chip!











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