southlandvikings.com

The Southland Vikings (11-13) outhit the Rockford Foresters (7-19) 24 to 18 to win a marathon game that took over three hours.

Much like Tuesday, the Vikings found themselves down 1-0 after the leadoff batter, Zach Wisowaty, hit a solo home run. In the bottom of the first, the Vikings had all nine batters come to the plate and scored four runs to take a 4-1 lead. Dan Potempa started the scoring with an RBI triple and he then scored on a passed ball. Alec Ornelas and Micah Rooke also had RBIs in the inning.

In the second, Potempa and Ornelas both stepped up again as Potempa had a 2-run double and Ornelas knocked him in to give the Vikings a 7-1 lead. After the Foresters scored three in the top of the third, the Vikings responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning, including a 3-run home run by Dan Eliopulos, to give them a 13-4 lead.

The Foresters added five runs in the fourth to make it 13-9 while in the bottom of the fifth, Elliott Armstrong’s RBI pushed the Vikings’ lead to 14-9.

In the seventh inning, the Vikings’ bats heated up again. The Foresters added two in the top half of the inning but the Vikings put the game away as they scored five runs to make it 19-11. In the eighth, Rooke homered to make it 20-11. In the ninth inning, Jonathon Rosario put the Foresters down in order and the Vikings pulled out the long, high-scoring victory.

Offense was the story of the game as the Vikings had nine out of 10 batters record a base hit with seven recording an RBI and eight crossing the plate as a run. In fact, nine or more batters came up to the plate for the Vikings in four innings. Potempa led the charge as he went 4 for 6 with three runs scored as well as five RBIs and was a home run away from hitting for the cycle. Ornelas also stepped up, going 3 for 6 with one run scored and four RBIs. Lastly, Rooke finished going 4 for 5 with three runs scored as well as two RBIs.

While starting pitcher Harry Doherty had his struggles, Evan Nietfeldt (1-1) picked up his first win of the season as he went 4.1 innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits while striking out three. Brady Stanton (1-2) picked up the loss for the Foresters.

The Vikings will take on the Northwest Indiana Oilmen for the sixth time on Thursday. All the games have been at Whiting, IN and the Vikings are 1-4 against the Oilmen.