70th Article at the Independent

PREP BASEBALL: Minneota outlasts Lakeview 10-9 in 10 innings

CHRIS DRUMMOND

cdrummond@marshallindependent

COTTONWOOD — In a game where wild pitches, costly errors and timely hitting predicted the outcome of the ballgame, what can’t be overlooked was the comeback made by the Minneota Vikings baseball team as they defeated the Lakeview Lakers 10-9 in 10 innings to earn their first win of the season.

The Vikings trailed 5-1 after two innings after hitting four batters with a pitch, walking another two and allowing two hits in the second inning. Meanwhile, Lakeview starting pitcher Taiven Isaackson – who threw 110 pitches in the game – was on his way to a strong outing. When he left the game, the Lakers were ahead 6-2 in the top of the sixth inning. That’s when the Vikings would make a run.

After slicing the deficit to two at 6-4, the Vikings came up to bat with two outs, two runners on base and down to their very last strike in the seventh. The Vikings then hit a two-run single and tied up the game and held on defensively to force extra innings.

Once the eighth inning started, the Vikings jumped out to take the lead with timely hitting and aggressive baserunning or so they thought. When the Vikings crossed home plate to score a run, the umpire at second base overruled the run and said that the runner never touched third base, signaling him out which was cause the inning to end. Minneota head coach Keven Larson talked about that call during that time.

“The umpire said that he completely missed third base,” Larson said. “From my perspective, it looked like he touched the bag but the umpire had a better angle and we just have to live with that.”

The Lakers were given new life, but couldn’t take advantage of it and both teams were headed to the ninth. The Vikings put up two runs and led 8-6 heading to the bottom of the ninth. However, the resiliency showed with the Lakers as they would tie it up at eight-all and had a chance to win it but the Vikings would strike out two batters in a row to get out of a bases-loaded jam.

The Vikings continued to put pressure on the Lakers pitching staff and scored another two runs to take a 10-8 lead, but once again the Lakers wouldn’t go down without a fight as two timely base hits cut the deficit to one. Then with two outs and a runner on third, the Lakers would fly out to end the game. Lakeview head coach Logan Funk assessed his team’s performance in the game.

“These guys are fighters and we fought to the end,” Funk said. “I’m still proud of the guys of how they fought against a tough Minneota team.”

Larson also elaborated on his team’s resilience to come back from a 5-1 deficit and win on the road.

“We gotta of lot of young guys that just don’t give up,” Larson added. “It was good to see our young guys step up, our second and third pitchers kept us in the game and we were able to pull it out.”

Final stats were not available at press time.

The Minneota Vikings (1-2) will host Central Minnesota Christian next Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. while the Lakeview Lakers (0-3) will host MACCRAY next Monday at 4:30 p.m.