Hammond, Ind. – July 13, 2023 – The Southland Vikings finally returned to action on Thursday after back-to-back rainouts and pulled off comeback wins in both ends of a doubleheader against the Indiana Panthers at Dowling Park.
The Panthers held a 3-1 lead in both games only to see the Vikings storm back with a big inning to win each one.
In the first seven inning game, the Vikings only managed one hit against Panthers starter Alberto Lamas as he went five innings allowing just one run.
The Vikings, who were acting as the road team in the first game, entered the top of the sixth inning trailing 3-1 as the Panthers turned to their bullpen.
Lefty Kyle Basile came on in relief and the Vikings’ bats immediately turned on, greeting the new pitcher with back-to-back singles. After a strikeout and an error, the Vikings were down 3-2 with only one out as All-Star catcher Matt Merk stepped to the plate.
“Facing a lefty who had some run on his fastball, I just had to stay closed with myself and don’t open up,” Merk recalled of his approach going into the at-bat.
Merk attacked the first pitch he saw from Basile and laced it into left center field for a two-run single to put the Vikings ahead 4-3. The Vikings would add another run in the inning to take a 5-3 lead and put starter Jacob Cook in line for the win after he tossed five innings allowing three runs with four strikeouts and a walk.
The Vikings turned to a lefty of their own in the sixth inning with Mike Kelly and after a 1-2-3 sixth, the Panthers threatened the lead in the final frame. Trent Lawrence singled to begin the seventh and two outs later scored on an RBI double from Josh Lamb to make the score 5-4 and put the tying run in scoring position.
Kelly then induced a groundout to short from Daniel Gay to end the game and hold onto the 5-4 win as Kelly picked up his second save of the season and Cook improved to 2-2 with the win.
Game two saw a pair of All-Star pitchers go head-to-head as Nolan Vlcek started for the Vikings against Hunter Niksch.
Both teams struggled defensively at the start as they each allowed an unearned run in the first inning.
The Vikings then allowed two more unearned runs in the top of the third inning to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom of the third, the Vikings struck back as the first seven hitters all reached safely and the Vikings sent 11 men total to the plate, scoring seven runs to take an 8-3 lead.
The Vikings cruised to victory from there as Nolan Vlcek lowered his league best ERA to 1.17 after not allowing an earned run in six innings while racking up a season high nine strikeouts and issuing a season low one walk.
The game ended after six innings due to darkness as Vlcek improved to 5-0 on the season with the win and he will now look forward to pitching in his third Northern League All-Star Game on Tuesday at Oil City Stadium.
“It feels really good to be recognized by the league and by my teammates for just competing and doing the best that I can for the guys,” Vlcek said of being named a Northern League All-Star. “It just feels really good to get back to the All-Star Game and represent the Vikes.”
The Vikings (19-16) will look to improve to four games above .500 for the first time this season as they take on the Elkhart County Miracle (17-21) on Friday. First pitch from Nappanee, Ind. is at 6pm ct.
