Wednesday

At Mayville

College Baseball

VCSU 6 Mayville State  (9 innings)

.MAYVILLE   (VCSU)  – William Hlady pitched six shutout innings and Drew Nixon homered for the second straight game Wednesday as the Valley City State baseball team picked up a 6-3 win at Mayville State.

Hlady started on the mound and allowed just two hits over his six shutout innings. The senior right-hander needed just 74 pitches to record 18 outs. He struck out six and only walked one en route to the victory.

Valley City State is now 2-0 to start the season with victories over Mayville and the University of Jamestown.

The Vikings struck first on Wednesday, pushing across two runs in the top of the second inning. Nixon and Ryan Reynolds led off the inning with back-to-back singles and eventually came around to score. Nixon scored the first run after Zach Veneman drew a bases-loaded walk, and then Reynolds scored on an error for a 2-0 lead.

Valley City State extended the lead to 5-0 in the eighth inning. Dustin Mertz scored JT Reed on an RBI single and then Nixon followed with a 2-run home run over the right-field fence.

Mayville State trimmed the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth, but freshman Daniel Alvarado was able to work out of a two-on, no-out jam to limit the damage. Mertz added another RBI single in the ninth inning to make it 6-3, and then David Demeter pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his second save of the season.

Nixon went 3-for-5 with a home run, two runs and two RBIs. Mertz was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Reynolds went 2-for-4. The Vikings totaled 12 hits in the game and struck out just five times. Mayville State scored its three runs on seven hits. The Comets committed four errors while the Vikings had just one error.

Chase Feller pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Hlady. Feller was chased in the eighth inning as the Comets put up three runs. Alvarado, making his first career appearance, pitched out of the jam and then Demeter closed the door with two strikeouts in the ninth.

Up next: Valley City State hosts Dickinson State for a doubleheader on Friday, Sept. 24. First pitch is at 3 p.m. at Valley City’s Charlie Brown Field.