VALLEY CITY, N.D. (vcsuvikings.com) – Jorun Hamre broke the single-season home run record Sunday as the Valley City State baseball team completed a four-game sweep against Presentation College.
Hamre hit his 15th home run of the season in game one, breaking the VCSU record of 14 held by Bryan Swaenepoel (2001) and Stacy Fitterer (1989). Hamre’s blast highlighted a 5-4 victory in game one Sunday. In game two, Reed Butz pitched six shutout innings and the Vikings closed the series with a 10-0 win.
VCSU outscored Presentation College 51-17 over the four-game series. Valley City State is now 21-24 overall and finished 14-9 in conference play. Valley City State clinched the No. 3 seed for the NSAA Conference Tournament starting Friday in Valley City. The Vikings will face No. 4 seed Waldorf University in the first round, Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Presentation College finishes the season with a 9-42 overall record and a 4-23 mark in conference play. The Saints did not qualify for the six-team NSAA Tournament.
Up next: Valley City State concludes the regular season with a non-conference game Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the University of Minnesota-Morris. The Vikings will be the No. 3 seed for the NSAA Conference Tournament starting Friday in Valley City.
GAME 1: VCSU 5, Presentation College 4
Jorun Hamre set the VCSU single-season record with his 15th home run, and Matthew Suda pitched 4.1 scoreless innings in relief for the win. The Vikings scored all five of their runs in the sixth inning, erasing a 4-0 deficit en route to the 5-4 victory.
Presentation College struck first in the fourth inning, going up 2-0 on Trevor Ball’s two-run single to right-center field. The Saints extended the lead with two more runs in the fifth inning, including an RBI double by Evyn Booth that made it 4-0.
The Vikings finally found their offense in the bottom of the sixth inning. After David Demeter reached on an error, Hamre hit his record-breaking home run over the right field fence and cut the deficit to 4-2. The rally did not stop there though. Three straight singles by Ryan Reynolds, Drew Nixon and Jayden Shipman made it 4-3, and then Gedeon Ellis put the Vikings on top 5-4 with a two-run double to the right field corner.
That’s all the support Matthew Suda would need. After coming on in relief to work out of a fifth inning jam, Suda was nearly untouchable. The right-hander gave up just one hit over 4 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. He did not walk a batter and struck out seven.
Chase Feller started on the mound for the Vikings and worked 4 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and four runs. He walked five and struck out eight.
JT Reed, Reynolds and Nixon all had two hits for the Vikings, who finished with 10 total hits.
Tyler Austin, Evyn Booth and Trevor Ball had the three hits for the Saints. Francisco Avena started and pitched seven innings for Presentation College. Avena scattered 10 hits and gave up five runs – only two of which were earned. He walked one and struck out three.
GAME 2: VCSU 10, Presentation College 0
Reed Butz pitched six shutout innings and the Vikings scored five runs in the fifth inning and five more in the sixth for a 10-0 win in game two.
Butz and Carson Dobias were locked in a scoreless pitcher’s duel through 4 1/2 innings before the Vikings broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Connor Aanderud led off the inning with a double to the left-center gap. David Demeter followed with a single and then an intentional walk to Jorun Hamre loaded the bases with one out. Gage Gellner broke the tie with a sacrifice fly to center field, making it 1-0. Drew Nixon delivered the big blow later in the inning – a bases-loaded triple off the center-field wall that punctuated the five-run inning.
The Vikings tacked on five more runs in the sixth inning for the final score of 10-0.
Butz picked up the win after six dominant innings on the mound. The Viking left-hander allowed just two hits and struck out 11 over six shutout innings. Marcus Niemann pitched a scoreless seventh inning to finish the victory.
Eight different Vikings combined for nine hits in the game. David Demeter went 2-for-3 and scored two runs. Drew Nixon tripled and drove in three, and Gage Gellner had a pair of sacrifice flies to pick up two RBIs.