VALLEY CITY, N.D. (vcsuvikings.com) – Jacob Rosales pitched a complete game shutout and the Viking offense put up double-digit runs for the second straight game Sunday as Valley City State played its way into the NSAA Baseball Tournament Championship Game.
The Vikings scored two runs in the fifth, three in the sixth and five more in the seventh inning as they defeated Waldorf University 10-0 in a loser-out game Sunday evening. It was the second straight elimination game victory for the Vikings, who defeated Mayville State 13-2 earlier on Sunday.
No. 3 seed Valley City State (21-23) will take its red-hot bats to play top seed Bellevue University in the NSAA Championship Game on Monday at 11 a.m. It will mark the first time the Vikings have played in the conference tournament championship since the 2001 season.
Bellevue, which is undefeated, would need to be beaten twice in Monday’s championship. If needed, the second championship game will be played at 2 p.m. Monday. The tournament champion earns the North Star’s automatic bid into the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.
Waldorf University, the No. 2 seed, is eliminated from the tournament and ends its season with a 30-22 overall record.
After losing 5-3 to Waldorf on Saturday night, Valley City State responded with back-to-back elimination game victories on Sunday – outscoring the opponents 23-2 and ending both games after seven innings due to the 10-run rule.
Waldorf threatened to strike right away in the top of the first inning. VCSU starter Jacob Rosales labored early, hitting a batter and walking two to load the bases, but then struck out Matthew Garcia on three pitches to end the inning. From there, Rosales was locked in as he set down 12 of the next 13 batters he faced, including 10 in a row.
Waldorf starter Mac Pearson was just as good for the Warriors early, allowing only two hits through the first four innings.
In the fifth inning though, the Vikings finally broke through. Sal Avila deposited the first pitch of the inning over the wall in right-center, giving VCSU a 1-0 lead with his solo home run. Nathan Demarais and Austin Smith followed with singles, and Christian Peery was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Grant Wehseler followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Pearson then got a groundout and a pop out to limit the damage to two runs.
Waldorf threatened with two singles in the top of the sixth, but Rosales worked out of the one-out jam with a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
The Vikings added three more runs in the sixth inning thanks to four hit batters by Waldorf reliever Andrew Benns. With two runners on, Nathan Demarais was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Austin Smith followed with an RBI groundout to make it 3-0. Christian Peery was hit by a pitch for the third time in the game and the sixth time in the tournament, loading the bases again with two outs. Benns then hit both Grant Wehseler and Brady Smith, scoring two more runs and putting the Vikings ahead 5-0.
Valley City State struck the final blow in the bottom of the seventh inning. Austin Smith delivered a bases-loaded triple to make it 8-0, and Aiden Brook later singled up the middle to score the 10th run and end the game after seven innings.
Rosales pitched all seven innings for the win, giving up just five hits in the shutout – all of them singles. He walked two and struck out six.
The Vikings collected 10 total hits, including three by Avila who went 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs, a double and a home run. Austin Smith was 2-for-4 with a triple and four RBIs. Five other Vikings had one hit each and Grant Wehseler drove in two more runs – giving him a tournament-high 10 RBIs.
Peery was 1-for-2 at the plate and was hit three times. Peery is now batting .500 for the tournament (6-12) and has a .714 on-base percentage after drawing three walks and being hit six times so far in four games.
Pearson took the loss for Waldorf, despite a solid start. Pearson allowed five hits and two runs over five innings of work.
Waldorf’s five hits came from five different players.