ATCHISON, KANSAS Grand View traveled south this weekend for a conference series against Benedictine College. Grand View dropped the first of four on Saturday but rallied off three wins in a row to win the series 3-1. The Vikings played well throughout, having a pitching dual in game two, but felt comfortable at the plate in games three and four on Sunday, earning 24 runs in that doubleheader.
SATURDAY
GAME 1
The Vikings pitched Jacob Draeger in game one. Draeger gave up a run in the first, but a Ravens grand slam brought in four runs in the second inning with GV in catch up mode. Draeger showed much poise as he went the next three innings and allowed no runs in the process. GV battled on the offensive side and earned more hits than Benedictine in the game. Grand View scored on a fielder's choice RBI by Patrick Bergkamp in the second. Hank Himrich went 3-for-3 at the plate in game one and a solo homer in the 4th. Erik Broekemeier had a beautiful double into a center field gap which brought home Jalen Aguiniga. Grand View just couldn't put a rally together through and missed out on six guys left on base. Noah Kueter came in for Draeger in the 6th and threw eight pitches with one strikeout and two outs. Grand View saw the same pitcher for 7 innings, but a well-pitched game had the Vikings come up short, 6-3 in the first of four series.
GAME 2
The Vikings had something rolling in the top on the first, which included a solo homerun by Bryce Stalder. Brock Rinehart and Broekemeier singled after that, but the inning drizzled out with two out guys left on base. The Vikings shined on the mound in this one. Noah Schlup earned his second win of the season in this one. He fired 53 pitches in the 3.1 innings and gave up three runs. Jacob Wolver came in and threw 2.2 innings and retired 10 Ravens in just 39 pitches. Devin Doyle came in to close out the game and earned his first save of the season with great field support behind him. GV only allowed 5 hits and zero runs. Vikings Brock Johnson singled in the 5th and brought in Carson Wadel to extend the lead to 2-0. Thats how the score stayed, and Grand View evened up the series on Saturday.
SUNDAY
GAME 3
A goodnight's rest for the Vikings awoke the bats. Grand View scored three in the first and 4 runs in the second and had a 7-0 lead. Kaleb Krier felt comfortable with a lead given to him early and didn't disappoint. Krier threw 6 innings and earned 11 strikeouts! He only gave up four hits and held Benedictine scoreless through five. His only miscue came in the fifth with a Ravens two run homerun. Krier earned his third win of the season in dominate fashion. Noah Kueter came in to close out the seventh and went three up, three down. Rinehart went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs in this one which included a two-run bomb in the 2nd. Everyone wanted to join the fun in this one. Himrich hit a solo homer which was his second of the series. And Broekemeier brought in 2 runs with a homerun in the 1st, but another solo homerun in the 5th to add some more fuel to the fire. The Vikings ended the game 11-2 and looked great on both sides of the diamond.
GAME 4
From a pitching contest in game two, to a sluggfest in game four. The Vikings let up four runs in the first inning but came alive in the third and scored five of their own. Johnson got them started with a solo homer, and the two out rally was one. Stalder and Rinehart singled to center and Broekemeier went yard again but for a three count this time. Then back-to-back doubles by Himrich and Borst had the Vikings up one. Benedictine tied it up in the fourth, with one run. Then GV rattled off two more in the top of the sixth with a two-run RBI single by Rinehart. The Ravens answered with four more runs in the bottom of the sixth and a 9-7 lead. The Grand View bats were just getting started though. GV topped their third inning, with six more runs in the top of seven. Heinen took the go-ahead swing with a three-run launch. The Vikings padded the lead with an RBI double from Johnson and another RBI double from Rinehart. Broekemeier singled to center to earn the sixth run of the inning for the Vikings. Evan Borst came in to close it out and executed. He only gave up one hit and earned a strikeout. It was a full effort on the mound, and Josh Stoll kept the team in it during his three innings, firing six strikeouts in just 3 innings and no runs. Grand View won the high scoring affair 13-9 and had 18 hits in this one.
GAME(S) NOTES
UP NEXT
Grand View baseball will have their next series this Saturday and Sunday against Baker University. This is their first home series of the season! Games are at 12 PM & 2:30 each day.
