Vikings end spring baseball southern trip with win

TUCSON, ARIZ. (VCSU) – The Valley City State University baseball team ended its trip to Tucson on a winning note Thursday, taking the victory in a 3-2 nail-biter behind strong pitching performances against Lourdes University.

Emmanuel Leyva‘s RBI double in the sixth inning put the Vikings ahead 3-1. Lourdes cut the deficit to 3-2 in the eighth inning, but the Vikings stranded the tying run at third base in both the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the victory.

Jesse Johnson had a strong showing on the mound for VCSU, pitching the final six innings in relief to earn the victory. Johnson scattered six hits and allowed just one run. He did not walk a batter and struck out five. Christian Peery started the game for VCSU and went three innings. Peery allowed just three hits and a run, walking one and striking out four.

Lourdes opened the scoring with a single run in the bottom of the first inning. The Vikings answered back in the top of the third, taking a 2-1 lead. Jayden Shipman scored on an error to tie the game at 1-1 and then Aiden Brook singled home Grant Wehseler to put the Vikings on top. Sal Avila opened the top of the sixth inning with a single and then came around to score VCSU’s third run on Leyva’s two-out double.

Lourdes scored an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth inning to make it 3-2, but Johnson was able to induce a groundout to second base to leave the tying run at third. In the bottom of the ninth, a one-out triple put the tying run on third base again, but Johnson finished off the game with groundouts to third base and shortstop.

Shipman finished with two hits and scored a run for VCSU, which managed to win with only six hits. Avila, Brook, Jorun Hamre and Leyva all had a hit each.

Valley City State improves its record to 4-10 overall and finishes its spring trip with a 3-6 overall record. The Vikings are scheduled to open conference play March 23-24 with four games against Dakota State. Due to weather and field conditions, the dates and locations of those games are still to be determined.

On Wednesday…

TUCSON, ARIZ. (VCSU) – The Valley City State baseball team suffered a pair of losses against tough competition Wednesday in Tucson, Ariz.

Due to rain affecting the scheduled games at the Tucson Invitational, the Vikings had an opponent change as they drew a matchup with NCAA Division II school Minot State University. The Vikings held a 10-7 lead after six innings, but Minot State scored five runs in both the seventh and eighth innings as the Beavers rallied past the Vikings for a 17-10 win.

In game two, Valley City State faced Benedictine-Mesa – the No. 23-ranked team in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll. Benedictine scored in each of the first six innings as the Vikings dropped the contest by a score of 12-3.