WELLS — A pair of Bay College pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts in the second game of a baseball doubleheader here Saturday.

It wasn’t quite enough, however, as the Norse dropped a 7-3 decision to Dakota County (Minn.) Technical College.

The Blue Knights (13-8) also won the opener 10-0 in five innings, taking a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven NJCAA Region 13 play-in series.

Nicholas Goebert absorbed the loss in the second game despite striking out 11 through four innings. He walked five and gave up four runs on four hits.

Grant Craft worked the final three frames and fanned six, walked five and allowed three runs on three hits.

“It was great to see Nick and Grant get out there and extend their pitch counts,” said Bay manager Mike Pankow. “Nick pitched well and Grant was pitching well. Grant got in trouble with a couple walks, but overall he did a pretty good job.”

This weekend’s four-game sweep enabled the Blue Knights to 12-0 against the Norse, dating back to the 2019 season.

Tanner Halvorson, who belted a leadoff double in the fifth, scored on an error to bring Bay within 4-3. The Norse, however, left the bases loaded.

Dakota County extended its lead to 5-3 on Mitch Goodwin’s double along the leftfield line and Diego Waisanen’s two-run double to left ended the scoring in the sixth.

“This was a good weekend for Mitch,” said Dakota County manager Matt Erzar. “They (Norse) battled the whole time as they did against us two years ago. Their kid (Goebert) threw real well. He kept us off-balance, although we got him for a home run. Our reliever (Allex Ege) did real good things with his slider, especially against Halvorson. That kid can really hit. We saw that all weekend.”

The game was tied 1-1 in the third until Goodwin rapped a two-run shot to right-center for a 3-1 lead.

Bay got a run back in its half of the third on Ian Schwalbach’s single to left.

Dakota County then regained its two-run cushion in the fourth on Brady Klehr’s two-out double to left.

Kirby Pierri scored Dakota County’s first run on a wild pitch in the first.

The Norse tied the contest on Schwalbach’s single to left in the bottom of the first.

“It’s easy to forget our sophomores played only 10 games last year, and some of our guys didn’t get to play their senior year in high school.,” said Pankow. “The last game was probably the most solid defense we played all weekend. We told the guys this might be the best defensive team we’ve had. We’re improving, only not as fast as we’d like to.”

The Norse collected six hits, including two by Schwalbach. The Blue Knights also had six hits, led by Goodwin and Klehr with two each.

Ege, who worked the last four innings, took the win. He fanned six, walked none, hit a batter and allowed one run on two hits.

Ben Simonsen fired a two-hitter in the opener, allowing just three hitters to reach base.

Halvorson got both of Bay’s hits, and Schwalbach drew the walk.

The series resumes May 7 in Minnesota.

Bay (2-22) will try to snap a 21-game losing streak next weekend when they host Bryant & Statton College for four games at Wells Township Field.