DES MOINES, IOWA Grand View played the second half of the series against Baker in another doubleheader Monday. A beautiful day for baseball as the sun beamed at 75 degrees during the game at Lou Yacinich Stadium. St. Patrick's Day proved to be more fun at the plate for the Vikings, as they earned 22 runs in the two games combined. Grand View showed clutch pitching when needed as well and earned four straight wins against the Wildcats.
MONDAY
GAME 3
The day started off hot on offense with runs by both teams in the first. The Wildcats scored three at the top on the first against GV's starter, Alex Foster. Foster didn't find the strike zone well in the start of the game and led to a high pitch count early. Noah Schlup took over after just 1.2 innings pitched from Foster. Schlup stalled Baker with two strikeouts and four batters retired.
The Vikings answered the deficit in a hurry. Grand View's Brock Johnson singled to lead off the game and got the team on a roll. Erik Broekemeier singled to bring in the first run of the game, followed by an Evan Borst sac fly. Brook Heinen reached on a fielder's choice but brought in the tying run as well. A two out rally started from there. A poke from Bryce Stalder brought in two runs, before Johnson cleared the bases with a three RBI home run, deep to left. The Vikings extended their lead to 8-3 by the end of the first.
Noah Kueter toed the rubber in the top of the 4th and pitched two full innings for the Vikings. Kueter let up two runs in the fifth which closed the gap to a one run ball game. Jacob Wolver came in and didn't mess around. Wolver earned a strikeout and the second out came from a fly out. With a runner on first, Rinehart threw down to first on pick off and Broekemeier got him on the tag to end the inning! Devin Doyle came in to close for the Vikings and did so with commanding pitches. Doyle earned two strikeouts in the seventh, and another save on the season.
GAME 4
The last game of the series found Jacob Draeger on the mound for GV. Draeger earned three strikeouts in his three and one third innings. Baker mounted two runs in the first, one run in the third, and another two in the fourth. Logan Smith came in to end the fourth inning and did just that. Smith went another 2 innings and gave up no runs in his appearance.
Grand View got two runs of their own in the first, to tie things up. Erik Broekemeier singled to bring in the lead-off batter, Johnson. Borst put one in play and earned an RBI, as Broekemeier came home. The Vikings seperated themselves in the bottom of the second and earned seven runs. This was all on two outs! Schwirtz drove a ball to center to bring in Stalder and open the gates. Rinehart followed with a nuke over the right field fence and brought in three runs. Heinen doubled on a ball toward left field and brought in Borst and Broekemeier, who reached just before. A final RBI of the inning came from a Wadel double up the middle. The Vikings held a 9-2 lead to this point.
GV took another pitch out of the park on a Broekemeier, two-run home run in the third inning. The Vikings had 11 on the scoreboard for the next couple innings before adding three more in the sixth. Heinen reached an error but brought in a run. Rece Heinen came in to pinch-hit for Himrich, and sent a ball to center to earn a sacrifice fly and an RBI. Tyler Lewnau copy and pasted that script with a sac fly of his own and improved the lead to 14-5. Kaden Stewart pitched the final inning for the Vikings and stuck out one batter to go along with a one, two, three inning. The Vikings sweep the series on St. Patrick's Day.
GAME NOTES
UP NEXT
The Vikings take on Graceland University in Lamoni, IA this weekend. Saturday, March 22nd and Sunday, March 23rd. The games will be played at 1PM and 3:30PM.
