BELLEVUE, NEB. (VCSUVikings.com)- – After a pair of offensive outbursts on Sunday, the Viking baseball team settled into a pair of pitchers’ duels on Monday as they split a doubleheader with Dakota State University.
VCSU scored in the top of the ninth inning to win game one 2-1 during the doubleheader in Bellevue, Neb. In the second half of the doubleheader, Dakota State won 4-3 on a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh.
Valley City State finishes the four-game game series with three wins against Dakota State. The Vikings won Sunday’s games by scores of 14-10 and 10-1. VCSU is now 7-11 overall this season and 3-1 in conference play.
Up next: Valley City State is scheduled to play a four-game non-conference series on Saturday and Sunday at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa.
VCSU 2, Dakota State 1
The Vikings scored single runs in the seventh and ninth innings to rally for a 2-1 win in Monday’s opener.
VCSU’s Nate Soulis had a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning to score Brady Smith and tie the game at 1-1. In the ninth inning, Aiden Brook opened the inning with a single, moved to second base on a groundout, stole third base, and then scored the game-winning run on Jorun Hamre’s groundout. Phillip Almanza then set the Trojans down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth to close out the victory.
Almanza earned the win after pitching four scoreless innings in relief. The junior right-hander gave up just one hit after coming on in the sixth inning. He walked only one and struck out four. Freshman Marcus Niemann started on the mound and pitched five strong innings. Niemann gave up just two hits and one unearned run as he took a no-decision.
VCSU managed just six hits, all coming by different players. Hamre and Soulis each had a hit and an RBI, while Smith and Brook scored VCSU’s two runs.
Dakota State 4, VCSU 3
Dakota State scored single runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings as the Trojans rallied for a 4-3 victory.
VCSU trailed 2-1 entering the sixth inning, but Brady Smith came up clutch with a two-run home run to left field, giving the Vikings a 3-2 lead. Dakota State would tie the game in the bottom of the sixth with an unearned run, and then the Trojans put together back-to-back two-out hits in the bottom of the seventh as Chris Burke doubled and then scored on Samuel Drummond’s walk-off single.
Nicholas Vargas pitched the first six innings for VCSU, allowing six hits and two earned runs. He walked two and struck out seven. Jacob Miller came on for the seventh inning and took the loss. Miller set down the first two batters before Dakota State’s two-out rally to win the game.
Brady Smith was 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs for VCSU. Grant Wehseler finished 2-for-4 at the plate, scored a run and had an RBI double in the third inning to put VCSU up 1-0. VCSU outhit Dakota State 9-6. The Vikings committed only one error, but it was a costly two-out error in the sixth inning that allowed Dakota State to tie the game at 3-3.