Norway catcher Dane Vandenheuvel tags out Superior Central’s Zak Englund on Tuesday in Norway. (Adam Niemi/The Daily News)

NORWAY — It wasn’t pretty at times, but Norway swept a season-opening doubleheader against Superior Central on Tuesday at Marion Park.

The Knights (2-0) took the second game 11-1 after winning the opener 7-3.

While the wins are nice, Norway finds itself with question marks mostly in its pitching rotation a year removed from a trip to the MHSAA state quarterfinals. On Tuesday, the pitching did the job.

Dante Pedrotti and Justin Bal pitched the second game for Norway and gave up a combined one run on two hits and four walks with five strikeouts.

“Very pleased with Pedrotti and how he threw the ball in the first game and to start the second game. I thought that was very good,” Norway manager Randy VanGasse said. “Same thing with Justin Bal, threw the ball well. Nothing overpowering but pitching to contact and defense was supporting them.”

They received strong offensive support with a five-run first inning. Dane Vandenheuvel picked up two RBIs with a double. His hit came after a single by Pedrotti. Cody Carlson picked up an RBI on a bases-loaded hit by pitch.

Despite scoring 18 runs on the day, VanGasse was disappointed with the offense.

“I think probably the only thing that was disappointing was at the plate. We didn’t strike the ball in comparison to our competition,” VanGasse said. “We’ve got a lot of seasoned players and we’ve got to start swinging the bats better.”

Superior Central’s only lead of the day came at the start of the second game. Logan Waldren singled and later scored off a double by Duane Englund to take a 1-0 lead before the Knights responded with five runs in the following half-inning.

Trey Doda pitched the first game. He went five innings and gave up three runs on six hits and four walks with five strikeouts. Pedrotti pitched an inning of relief before starting the second game.

Superior Central fell to a 4-0 deficit before striking for three runs in the third inning. The Alger County co-op strung three straight doubles with no outs and a single to tighten Norway’s lead at 4-3. With a runner on second, the Knights’ defense stepped up to get three outs.

Doda escaped out of jams in the second and fifth innings, leaving a combined five runners on base. In the second, he stranded runners at first and second by notching a strikeout and inducing a weak grounder. In the fifth, he squeezed out of a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout. VanGasse said Doda’s ability to get out of trouble was good, but he created the trouble for himself.

“Doda went to a number of high counts and threw a lot of pitches but we were able to get through that,” VanGasse said. “He worked himself out of a couple of jams that he created, so I guess there’s good and there’s bad with that.”

In the fifth, he walked two and gave up a single. In the second, he gave up a walk and a single.

The Knights entered the season with a question mark in the pitching rotation after graduating key seniors after last year. Norway ended last year with a loss in the state quarterfinals to Gaylord St. Mary.

Norway lost John Edwardsen, Bryce Grayvold and Bryce Plante, who all logged a vast majority of Knights’ innings on the mound.

This year, the Knights have more key seniors, including Carlson, Bal, Ryan Menard, Bryce Broden, Caleb Tinkey, Dane Vandenheuvel, Kevin Evosevich and Warren Olsen.

VanGasse said Doda is the best pitcher on the team, having snuck into the rotation at the end of last year.

“He was solid. He was working his way into that No. 3 spot at the end of the season,” VanGasse said. “I don’t want to put it all on him. We’ve got to find someone else to work with.”

with the rotation solid last year, the Knights had few opportunity to develop the younger pitching arms they will now rely on.

“We’ve got all sorts of arms, it’s whether they can throw strikes effectively. That’s what we’ve got to sort out. We had No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 pitchers all graduated,” VanGasse said. “When that happens, and only one of them was a position player, that really kind of precluded us from developing a whole lot of pitching last year. We knew we had guys with strong arms, but because we had solid pitchers, we didn’t use them much. Now we’re in that situation where we have to scramble.”

Norway plays at Stephenson on Friday.

SENIORS — Caleb Tinkey, Cody Carlson, Ryan Menard, Bryce Broden, Dane Vandenheuvel, Justin Bal, Kevin Evosevich, Warren Olsen.

JUNIORS — Micah Wilson, Adam Faull, Dante Pedrotti

SOPHOMORES — Payton Thompson, Isaac Ray, Brett Turini, Trey Doda

FRESHMEN — Parker Lasater, Cody Hendricks, Hunter McCarthy