PLEASANT PLAINS, Ill. – St. Norbert College opened its 2024 season with a split of non-conference games, beating Blackburn College 8-1 before falling to Augustana College 5-4 at Pleasant Plains High School.
 
St. Norbert got a stellar pitching performance against Blackburn, with Jace Midbon fashioning a four-hit complete-game effort with one walk and 10 strikeouts.
 
The Green Knights got a run in the first inning when Matt Perry doubled in Trevor Reinhardt. St. Norbert added another run in the third when Devin Geary scored on an error. The lead remained 2-1 until St. Norbert scored three times in the eight on a Perry RBI single and a two-run home run from Zach Bostrand. The Green Knights added three more runs in their half of the ninth on a three-run home run by Reinhardt.
 
Perry was 3-for-4 with two RBI, while Jaden Holgado was 3-for-5. Reinhardt was 2-for-5 with three RBI.
 
Against Augustana, the Green Knights took a 1-0 lead when Will DeBruin scored on a two-out fielding error in the bottom of the second inning. The Vikings got the run back in their half of the third inning and added a run in the fourth inning. Augustana took a 5-1 lead with three two-out runs in the top of the sixth.
 
St. Norbert would respond with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on RBI singles by Carson Krumrei and Eli Pantzlaff. Krumrei would then score on an Augustana error to cut it to 5-4. The Green Knights would get the potential tying run on base to open the bottom of the ninth inning, but the game ended with the runner being thrown out at home plate.
 
The Green Knights had four hits against Augustana.