The closest of the first four games of the season for the Holmen High School baseball team was a three-run home loss to Sparta April 14. So while a program that has five players from last year's Class AA state Legion qualifier likely isn't big on moral victories, Holmen played its best games of the season Friday against Onalaska and Saturday against Aquinas, dropping extra-inning and one-run decisions.

The Vikings best chance to win in Friday's 11-6, eight-inning loss to Onalaska came in the bottom of the seventh after Holmen had the bases loaded with two outs in a 6-6 game. Britain Bell followed with a sinking liner along the left-field line, before Jordan Guth made a running catch to force the eighth.

HHS scored a season-high 11 runs on a season-high 12 hits in Saturday's 12-11 loss. Holmen trailed 11-4 through five innings, before beginning a racous comeback that included a Dominic Lenz double, Jordan Vaaler single, Jarrod Bock two-run single, Corey Jessessky hit and Trey Candahl walk to loaded the bases in the seventh with the Vikings down a run. Bell took a second shot in as many days at being the hero, but his sharp ground ball up the middle was snared by Jason King, who nearly threw to first to try and retire the speedy Bell before realizing he had a game-ending force out steps away. King's off-balance putout ended the game.

“We were 90 feet away in the Onalaska game,” Holmen head coach Duane Vike said Saturday. “I was happy with the hitting today. That unearned run in the bottom of the sixth hurt us, but Vaaler did a great job in relief.”

The Vikings had gotten within 11-9 in the sixth, starting the inning with singles from Bell and Ross Jenks, before taking advantage of three walks, two errors and a hit batsmen. Two sixth-inning errors gave Aquinas an insurance run.

Vaaler pitched the first four innings in relief of Jeff Matt and Zach Mally, allowing three hits, two runs, one earned run and two walks against five strikeouts. Matt allowed seven of the 10 hitters he faced to reach, while Mally allowed seven of the nine hitters he faced to reach.

“That big (nine-run 2nd) inning hurt us,” Vike said. “We could have made some pitching changes earlier, but we also could have made some plays earlier, too. We went from fast and wild to slow and accurate, and both went against us.”

HHS went with a younger lineup Saturday, including freshman designated hitter Bennett Johnson and sophomore shortstop Trey Candahl. In addition, the loss of Ben Squier and Joey Pietrek has forced Bock to have to play catcher.

“Candahl hasn't been tested too much defensively yet, but he's done a nice job of getting on base,” Vike said. “And Bock has done a nice job behind the plate. We do have some versatility we're trying to utilize.”

While Vaaler pitched well in relief Saturday, Holmen got a gutty 7 1/3-inning performance from Shane Peterson Friday. The left-hander allowed six runs, but just three earned runs, over the first seven innings,.He appeared to finally run out of gas in the eighth after facing 38 hitters, with two walks and a hit batsmen setting the stage for Brandon Rude's grand slam.

“He threw a great game,” Vike said of Peterson. “He got stronger in the sixth and seventh innings. We needed to win that in the bottom of the seventh, because he had kind of reached back and given everything he had at that point.”