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ARIZ (VCSUVikings.com)- The Viking baseball team suffered a tough-luck loss Wednesday in Tucson, Ariz., as they dropped both sides of a doubleheader with Benedictine University, 4-3 and 6-2.
The Vikings lost game one on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning after leading 3-0 early in the game.
VCSU is now 5-15 overall this season and are 4-5 on the spring trip to Tucson, Ariz. Benedictine University at Mesa improves to 16-8 this season.
Up next: The Vikings wrap up the varsity schedule of their spring trip on Thursday with a single game against Illinois Institute of Technology (3 p.m. central time).
Benedictine Mesa 4, VCSU 3 (10 innings)
Benedictine’s Christian Camacho hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving his team a 4-3 win in the opener on Wednesday.
VCSU led 3-0 after two innings, but the Redhawks rallied and chipped away at the lead.
Valley City State opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the first inning. Jared Meiklejohn singled to open the game and Joe Demers followed with a walk. Brady Anderson’s single would load the bases with nobody out. Meiklejohn would later score on a fielder’s choice, and Demers would score on a bases-loaded walk by Grant Wehseler.
The Vikings extended their lead to 3-0 in the second inning. Joe Demers reached base with a two-out single, stole second, and then came in to score on Anderson’s RBI single up the middle.
Benedictine Mesa rallied to tie the game with single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings. VCSU had opportunities to go ahead again but left a runner on second base in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
The Vikings had their best chance to take the lead in the top of the 10th, but Ryan Sand was thrown out at the plate trying to tag from third on a fly ball to right field. Three pitches later Camacho ended the game with his walk-off in the bottom of the 10th.
Andrew Frank and Steven Velarde both had strong games on the mound for VCSU. Frank started and went 5 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and three runs – two earned – while walking only one and striking out five. Frank gave up just three hits through the first five innings. Velarde came on in relief and worked the final 3 2/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was the game-winning home run. Velarde struck out four and walked three.
VCSU had three runs on 10 hits. The Vikings committed three errors. Benedictine scored its four runs on just six hits. The Redhawks committed one error.
Jared Meiklejohn and Brady Anderson each had three hits to lead the Viking offense. Nate Bagby added a pair of hits as well. Grant Wehseler, Anderson and Ben Bruenjes all tallied an RBI.
Benedictine Mesa 6, VCSU 2
Game two went the Redhawks’ way as well as they scored a 6-2 win to sweep the doubleheader.
The Redhawks scored three runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. The Vikings fought back with a pair of runs in the fifth, but could get no closer than 4-2. Benedictine added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh for the final score of 6-2.
VCSU scored its two runs on five hits. VCSU did not commit an error. The Redhawks had six runs on nine hits and committed one error.
Jordon Roos started on the mound and gave the Vikings 6 1/3 innings. The junior right-hander scattered nit hits and gave up five earned runs. He walked four and struck out three. Tyler Olson came on to record the final two outs, striking out one batter and not allowing a hit.
Joe Demers went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, scoring Tyler Ukestad and Jared Meiklejohn on a double in the fifth inning. Nate Bagby, Grant Wehseler and Ukestad all had one hit in the game.