“We were pretty antsy," said Glen Lake coach Kris Herman about finally opening the prep baseball season four days late after two doubleheaders were canceled. "We were ready to get outside."

GLEN LAKE baserunner Devin Weber scores in the Lakers’ win over Leland Tuesday.

The Lakers held on Tuesday for a 9-5 win over Leland, while Suttons Bay set back Kingsley twice to claim the top spot — at least for now — in the Northwest Conference.

The Norsemen breezed to a 9-1 win in the opener largely behind the 2-hitter tossed by Shane Kaufman. He struck out 5 and held his walks to two, an unusual number so early in the season.

Suttons Bay took a 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Stags, who were figured as title contenders heading into the season, tied it up in the fourth.

But Kody Herman drove in two runs with a single in the bottom of the fourth and Brian Ballenger sent two more runs home as Suttons Bay scored seven runs to put the game away.

Also credit Danny Holmes with pairs of singles, RBI and runs scored in the game.

Norsemen coach Doug Periard was proud of how his team fought back in the nightcap after falling behind 11-5 in the fifth inning to eventually take a 12-11, extra-inning win. Credit Kaufman’s squeeze bunt with scoring Ryan Manning, who led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk, for the winning run.

And credit Anthony Stewart with the win after taking over in relief in the third inning.

“The guys showed a lot of composure,” said Periard, “and never lost confidence. We kept chipping away, and getting back into it.”

Holmes and Herman each singled twice, with Holmes knocking in two runs. Kaufman singled, sacrificed and drove in four runs. Pounding out doubles were Stewart, Jesus Olivo, Adam Moritz and Kevin O’Neill.

“It was a very important win,” said Peirard of the enlarged Northwest Conference. “Kingsley has been strong the last two years.”

One of two teams added to the conference was Leland, which dropped its first Northwest baseball game to Glen Lake after staying close through five innings.

“Parts of the game were encouraging,” said first-year Comet coach Scott Stoerck. “We were down 7-2, and clawed back to make it a ball game.”

He credited pitcher Alex Gulow with keeping the game close. Gulow, Matt Rinehart and Art Wolin provided the only hits for the Comets.

Glen Lake offered up some help in the form of free baserunners. Winning pitcher Tyler Lukasiak held off the Comets’ bats and struck out six — nearly half of Leland’s outs — in 4 1/3 innings of work. But He walked the first three batters he faced in a trend that continued as Laker pitchers served up 12 free passes. Joe Galla did not allow a run in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

After Leland closed the gap to two runs, Galla delivered a two-out double in the bottom of the fifth for the final 9-5 margin.

Josh Jacklin collected three hits including a 2-run double while driving in three runs, while Kyle Klumpp swatted two hits.

Walks and errors — six Glen Lake batters walked — helped make it the “longest 6-inning game I’ve ever been in,” said Laker coach Herman. Rather than start the second game late Tuesday, both coaches decided to play the nightcap yesterday.

All three Northwest teams have busy schedules ahead, including participation in the “Leelanau County Classic” scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday on Hancock Field in Leland.

Leland is also scheduled to host St. Mary today and Kingsley Tuesday. Glen Lake will travel to Manistee Catholic today and to Frankfort Tuesday. And Suttons Bay will play at Pine River today and at Mesick Tuesday.