Vikes Hit Five Game Skid

After a tough extra innings loss at home, the Vikes traveled down to Pendleton, OR to finish off their four game set versus Blue Mountain Community College on Saturday April 6th.

Brendan McKinley was handed the ball for game one and got off to a solid start retiring 6 out of the first 7 BMCC hitters through the first two innings. The third inning gave McKinley some trouble as free passes and timely hitting for the Timberwolves allowed BMCC to take a 2-0 lead after 3 innings of play. The Timberwolves were able to chase McKinley after 4 2/3 innings after giving up 3 runs, two of which were earned and striking out four. The Viking offense was relativly quiet up till the the sixth inning where they were able to strike for two runs making it a 3-2 game entering the final three innings. Bryce Laforest came in and was immediately let down by his defense. Costly errors made the final three innings an uphill battle as Blue Mountain added on in the 7th and 8th resulting in a 7-2 loss for the Vikes. Rory Swanson led the quiet offense going 2-4 at the plate while Kyler Nilson, Tyson Laugen and Kyle Belich each chipped in with a hit a piece.

Game two rolled around and the Vikes needed something, anything. Brett Nemechek was handed the ball and struggled heavily not making it out of the first inning after surrendering 4 runs. In an early hole, James Macrae came in and was able to stop the bleeding tossing 4 2/3 giving up one unearned run and striking out two before Dylan Schaefer took over. Down 5-2, the Vikes got a late spark with Davis Chakos hitting a 2 RBI triple to tie it up at 5 in the 8th inning. Shaefer continued to cruise working through 4 scoreless innings, but this game required extras. After retiring the first two hitters, a two out double followed by an intentional walk had Blue Mountain threatening with the winning run at second base. Schaefer was able to execute getting a weak ground ball that the BBCC infield was unable to keep on the infield resulting in yet another extra inning loss for the Vikes. Head Coach Chase Tunstall had this to say after yet another tough loss.

"It comes down to execution, in all aspects of the game we need to be better. Offensively, defensively, on the base paths. We have to be better. We give other teams far to many free outs and make it an uphill battle for ourselves. We've got Wenatchee Valley next who is playing good baseball so we have to find a way to clean our game up for us to have a chance of making up some ground"

BBCC travels to Wenatchee on Wednesday for the start of their four game set versus the Wenatchee Valley Knights. 

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