Photo via Valley City State Athletics

VALLEY CITY, ND. (NewsDakota.com) – The Valley City State baseball team lit up the scoreboard on Friday night as the Vikings topped the Waldorf Warriors 22-12 in seven innings during the opening round of the NSAA tournament.

Valley City jumped off to an early lead after scoring seven runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 9-0 lead. Waldorf scored two runs in the top of the third, but Valley City would score the next 10 runs to go in front 19-2 heading into the top of the seventh inning. With their backs against the wall, Waldorf put up 10 runs of their own in the seventh to force Valley City to bat in the bottom half of the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jorun Hamre sent Viking fans off on a high note with a three-run blast over the right-field wall for his 17th home run of the year. Eight different Valley City players finished with two or more runs batted in.

JT Reed had the only other long ball on the day, hitting a two-run shot in a seven-run fourth inning for Valley City State. Reed finished the day 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Gedeon Ellis was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, two walks, and two runs scored. Freshman Dustin Mertz finished the day 3-for-5 and also drove in three runs.

Phil Almanza earned the win on the mound for the Vikings, going five innings while striking out four and allowing nine hits. Valley City State will take on Mayville State tomorrow at 5:30 pm from Charlie Brown Field, and you can listen to the full game on Q101.