Norway senior Carter Cazzola slides home to score on a double by junior Landon Ross during the top of the sixth inning against Kingsford at Spigarelli Field on Thursday. (Ron Deuter photo)

KINGSFORD – Junior Landon Ross busted a 2-2 stalemate with a run-scoring double in the top of the sixth inning, and senior Owen Baij singled in two insurance runs in the seventh as Norway held off Kingsford 5-3 Thursday at Gary Spigarelli Memorial Field.

The win was the first in three tries for the Knights this season, while Kingsford has now slipped to 0-4.

“It’s early and both teams have had big roster overhauls,” Knights head coach Tony Adams said. “I thought we competed. We had a few poor at-bats with runners in scoring position. But those hits late were big. We were looking for one run and ended up getting a couple, so that was good.”

With both teams leaning on their aces, it was Baij collecting the victory over Kingsford senior Jack Kriegl. Baij worked into the sixth, scattering six hits and allowing two runs while striking out four and walking four. Kriegl went the whole way for the Flivvers, yielding eight hits and four runs with nine Ks and two free passes.

“Jack was deep in his pitch count,” Adams said. “Owen fatigued a little bit, too, towards the end but hung in there. We were just trying to compete. We knew they would put balls in play. They have a lot of kids who can hit, and I thought our defense got better in this one.”

Freshman Landon DeBakker closed out the win for the Knights, fanning four over the final inning and two thirds. The save wasn’t without a little drama in the Flivvers’ final at-bat, however, as Kriegl led off and reached second on a dropped fly to right. He stole third before a one-out walk brought the tying run to the plate in junior Logan Grondin. He grounded out to the right side, which allowed Kriegl to score and courtesy runner Domenic Frederickson to move to third.

Senior Jacob Deuter, who doubled down the right field line and scored in the second, represented the Flivvers’ last chance. After falling behind 0-2 with a couple of hard-hit foul balls out of play in left, he worked the count full before swinging and missing out in front of an off-speed offering by DeBakker.

Kingsford led 2-0 after two. The first run scored in the first when Kriegl was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.

Norway tacked on single tallies in the third and fourth innings to tie the game. Senior Maddex Burklund doubled to center for the Knights in the third to drive in the first run. He was 2-for-4 in the game. Senior Carter Cazzola singled to lead off the fourth, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior Elliott Kraemer, took third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch with two away. Cazzola finished 2-for-3.

The Knights recorded eight hits. Freshman Toni Anderson had two of those, with a double. Kingsford wound up with six hits, Grondin adding a double out of the DH spot.

“We were really glad Kingsford called us to come up,” Adams said. “We need innings, and it’s a good fun game. The kids know each other. I think they’re kind of looking at it a little bit like we are. We just need time to get things the way we want it, and hopefully at the end we’ll be good.”

The Flivvers suffered a 10-7 setback to Negaunee in their home opener on Wednesday, a game they led 5-0 after two innings.

Kriegl registered five RBIs in the loss, including a three-run double in the second. Grondin went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a double. Freshman Luke Rice and Frederickson each had two hits, but the pitching staff was unable to lock it in. Negaunee racked up 11 hits against five Flivver hurlers and took full advantage of 11 walks and three errors.

“We have to throw strikes,” Flivvers head coach Joe Kriegl said after the game. “We’re young. It’s not an excuse but we’ve had a luxury the past few years. These are great kids and we’re going to be a darn good baseball team at some point. We just have to go through our growing pains right now and learn.

“Hats off to Negaunee. Negaunee is a great team, probably going to be one of the best teams in the U.P. They’re good. We’re not far off. Haven’t got in the win column yet, but we’re right there. We’ll figure it out.”

Kingsford plays two games today in Milwaukee, facing Germantown and Reedsburg. The Flivvers return home Tuesday to host Crandon.

Norway was to play at Crivitz on Friday before hosting Westwood on Monday.