WHITEHALL — Whitehall opened its season Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep of Hart in West Michigan Conference cross-division play. The Vikings rolled to a 12-2 mercy-rule win in game one and edged the Pirates 4-2 to get the sweep.
Whitehall raced out to a huge lead in the opener, scoring 11 times in the first two innings, and Isaac VanAmberg and Brock Morningstar teamed up for a five-inning no-hitter on the mound. Doubles by Ryne Christensen and Morningstar sparked the offense in the opening inning, and Christensen’s RBI single began the eight-run second inning outburst. Christensen added a third RBI hit later in the game, ending the contest with four hits. Morningstar added two. VanAmberg struck out six in three innings.
The nightcap was much closer, as Hart inched back into the game late after Whitehall snagged an early 4-0 lead. A two-run single by Ryan Goodrich in the second inning opened the scoring, and Christensen tripled in teammate Kyle Stratton in the third before scoring on a VanAmberg groundout.
Hart battled back, denied a run in the fourth after Blake Weirich was caught stealing home, but later getting RBI hits from Ty Schlukebir and Mitchell Slade. The Pirates actually outhit Whitehall 5-3 in the game, but Whitehall took advantage of three Hart fielding errors. Christensen fired five strong innings of relief, allowing just an unearned run and striking out 10, to pick up the win. Stratton allowed one hit in two innings.
