Hammond, Ind. – June 5, 2023 – The Southland Vikings played the Indiana Panthers for the third time in five games on Monday and once again used a big inning to erase an early 2-0 deficit and pull off a comeback win.  

The Panthers struck first by scoring two runs in the second inning with a pair of triples and a wild pitch. It was the second consecutive game for the Vikings that the Panthers had taken an early 2-0 lead. Vikings starter Aramis “Miso” Salmeron held the Panthers lineup in check outside of the second inning, holding the Panthers to two runs on three hits with six strikeouts in five innings.  

“I feel great,” Salmeron said after the game. “I felt like my stuff was on today. I got into a little bit of trouble, but I knew that my teammates got me.”  

Salmeron needed help from his teammates who had been sent down in order in each of the first four innings by Panthers starter Jorge Santos.  

Still trailing 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Vikings finally put their first baserunners on, sandwiching a pair of walks around an error to load the bases with nobody out. Matt Merk followed with a game tying two-run single for the team’s first hit. Another hit and three more walks resulted in a five-run inning and gave the Vikings a 5-2 lead.  

The Panthers would get two runs back in the bottom of the fifth to pull back within a run, but a three run seventh inning helped the Vikings pull ahead to an 8-4 lead and never look back. Jacob Cook picked up his first save of the season, tossing three shutout innings to close out the game and give the Vikings their first home win of the season.  

The Vikings saw some different faces in the starting lineup on Monday with Salmeron, Freddie Ragsdale III, Giovanni Pamias, and Adan Abarca all in the starting lineup for the first time this season.  

“It just proves our depth on this team,” manager Sullivan Stickann said after the game. “We’re deep. Every single position player can play. It makes it really easy to write the lineup because I know that whoever’s in it is going to produce at some point.”  

Monday’s game was the first of fifteen consecutive games for the Vikings before their next off day on June 20.   Next up for the Vikings (4-1) is an early 11am start at Legacy Fields to take on the reigning champion Lake County Corn Dogs (7-1) for the first time this season.