Late Inning Slip Up Results In Split

Coming off of a rough conference home opener, the Vikes traveled to Pasco, WA to finish out the four game set looking to salvage the series.

Brendan McKinley was handed the ball in game one and continued throwing the ball well tossing 5 1/3 innings of two run baseball. While McKinley worked, the Viking offense seemed to click. With two outs in the second inning started by Bryce Laforest drawing an 12 pitch walk, the Vikes started to roll scoring 7 runs on 5 hits giving BBCC an early 7-0 lead. McKinley left the ball game with a 7-2 lead in the sixth inning by handing the ball off to James Macrae. Macrae was not as sharp as he typically has been walking 3 and giving up 2 in his 2 1/3 innings of work. Although the Vikes had established a large lead early, the Hawks chipped away. Entering the bottom of the 9th, BBCC led by a score of 10-5, but a solo homerun, a walk and two hit batters had the Hawks threatening with no outs. Nolan Soderstrom came in with the bases loaded and managed to slam the door leading to a 10-7 win. Kyle Belich led the way offensively going 2-4 with 2 RBI's while Gunnar Graves and JT Penrod each collected two hits in the Viking victory. 

Hoping to finish the series with a split, the Vikes came out firing in game two scoring 1 in the first, 3 in the second and 3 in the third giving them a familiar 7-2 lead after three innings. Brett Nemechek struggled on the mound with his command walking 5 over three innings and surrendering 4 runs before handing it off to the bullpen. After an eventful first three innings for the Viking offense, the bats went quiet hoping that the pitching could hold off the Hawks. The 5 run lead slowly shrank as the Hawks offense chipped away. Entering the 9th inning the Vikes had a 7-5 lead with Bryce Laforest on the bump working on his 5th inning of relief. Laforest seemed to run out of gas he surrendered a lead off single and hit a batter before Nolan Soderstrom came in with one out and runners on 1st and 2nd. Soderstrom managed to strike out the first batter he faced and needed just one more out to complete the win. Unfortunately, CBC came through with a two out triple to tie it up at seven followed by a two out single to walk off the Vikes by a final score of 8-7. Head Coach Chase Tunstall had this to say regarding the day split.

"We were able to bounce back and compete after a frustrating start to conference play on Wednesday. The guys proved what they are capable of any given day even though we ended Saturday with a split. I look forward to seeing the Vikes continue to attack conference play."

BBCC prepares for Blue Mountain Community College as they host the Timberwolves on Wednesday April 3rd for a double header at 1:00 and 4:00 at Viking Field. 

As always, keep up with the Vikings on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as through the NWACSports Network's livestream video platform, where available.