Photo and Article via Valley City State Athletics
VALLEY CITY (vcsuvikings.com)– Mayville State scored five runs in the eighth inning, breaking open a tight game en route to a 10-4 victory over Valley City State on Saturday night.
The Comets led 5-3 before the big eighth inning gave them some breathing room in the winner’s bracket game at the NSAA Baseball Tournament.
Mayville State (33-15) advances to a winner’s bracket semifinal game Sunday at 11 a.m. against top seed Bellevue University. Valley City State (23-25) will play a loser-out game against No. 5 seed Dickinson State at 2 p.m. Sunday. The winner of Sunday’s 2 p.m. game will play at 5:30 p.m. against the loser of the 11 a.m. game.
Valley City State outhit the Comets 8-6, but the Vikings committed five defensive errors and left the bases loaded in both the seventh and eighth innings.
Mayville State put up three runs in the top of the first inning. A hit batter, bunt single and walk loaded the bases with one out. The Comets pushed across their first two runs on a wild pitch and groundout, and then Skylar Forst doubled down the left-field line to score Michael Theisen for a 3-0 lead.
Valley City State cut the deficit to 3-2 with a pair of runs in the third inning, manufacturing the first and scoring the second on a home run. Colton Berg led off the inning with a single to left field. Courtesy runner Carter Dodd took second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a groundout and then scored on JT Reed‘s sacrifice fly. David Demeter then quickly put up the second run with a solo shot over the right-center fence.
The Comets loaded the bases in the fourth inning with a single, walk and hit batter. A grounder by Marcus Hughes pushed across a run, and then a second run scored on a Viking throwing error, extending the Comet lead back to 5-2.
David Demeter hit his second home run of the game in the sixth, leading off the inning with a solo shot to left field, trimming VCSU’s deficit to 5-3.
The Vikings put together a big threat in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with two outs and Demeter at the plate. After working a full count, Demeter hit a hard ground ball to the right side that first baseman Theo May snared and ran to first to end the Viking threat.
The Comets broke the game open in the top of the eighth, plating five runs to open up a 10-3 lead. Mayville scored their first four runs in the inning without the benefit of a hit, taking advantage of a variety of Viking miscues including three walks, a hit batter, and two errors.
Tyler Kliniske took the loss for Valley City State, starting on the mound and battling into the eighth inning. The Viking right-hander scattered four hits and struck out five. He gave up seven runs – six earned – and walked six batters.
Connor DiNaro picked up the victory for Mayville after working five innings. The lefthander allowed six hits and just three runs. He walked two and struck out three. Alex DeCaro, Kenny Stewart, and Ramsay Taliaferro combined to finish off the game on the mound.
Demeter’s two home runs led the Vikings offense as he finished 2-for-4 at the plate. Jorun Hamre was also 2-for-4 and scored a run. Colton Berg went 1-for-2 with an RBI, drawing a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning.
Skylar Forst had two of Mayville’s hits and scored a run. Marcus Hughes went 1-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.