FOREST CITY, IOWA – Hunter Magnuson pitched a gem in game one Friday as the Valley City State University baseball team split its doubleheader at Waldorf University.
 
Magnuson turned in a complete game performance, giving up just two hits and one run in VCSU's 12-1 victory. Waldorf held off VCSU in game two, 6-3.
 
With the split, Valley City State is now 11-25 overall this season and 7-13 in conference play. Waldorf moves to 16-21 overall and 11-9 in the NSAA. Valley City State is currently sixth in the NSAA standings while Waldorf is in third place.
 
Up next: Valley City State travels to play a four-game series at conference leader Dakota State University on April 21-22
 
VCSU 12, Waldorf 1 (7 innings)
Hunter Magnuson pitched a complete game as VCSU rolled to a 12-1 win in game one Friday.
 
Magnuson gave up a solo home run to start the game and then locked the Warriors down the rest of the way. He struck out six, allowed just two hits and at one point retired 13 straight hitters. The Viking bats came alive in the middle innings as VCSU ended the game by run rule after seven innings.
 
Magnuson pitched all seven innings, throwing 104 total pitches and 64 strikes. Over his last three starts Magnuson has struck out 22 batters in 19 innings pitched. He has a 1.42 ERA in those three games – allowing only three runs and 10 hits – and opponents are batting just .159.
 
Cam Pero started the scoring Friday for VCSU with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the second inning. After Zach Veneman and Ryan Reynolds drew walks, Jett Salonek bunted them up and then Pero drilled an 0-2 pitch to the right-center gap, scoring both for a 2-1 Viking lead.
 
The Vikings extended the lead to 6-1 with three more runs in the fourth inning. Pero and Adam Thompson had RBI singles and Drew Nixon drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. 
 
VCSU broke the game wide open with a seven-run fifth inning, taking a 12-1 lead. Pero started the scoring with a sacrifice fly – his fourth RBI of the day – and then VCSU opened the floodgates with six runs in the next three at bats. Jaden Babiuk delivered a 2-run double, Drew Nixon hit a 3-run home run, and Dustin Mertz capped the inning with a solo home run.
 
Babiuk continued his torrid hitting with a 3-for-4 game and a pair of RBIs. Nixon and Pero both had two hits and drove in four runs each, and Adam Thompson was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Veneman scored three runs as he had one hit and drew two walks. Ryan Reynolds and Jett Salonek each had two walks and two runs scored.
 
Waldorf 6, VCSU 3
Waldorf secured the split with a 6-3 win in game two, silencing the Vikings bats until the final inning.
 
Trailing 6-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, VCSU made things interesting as Ryan Reynolds hit a solo home run and Zach Veneman hit a 2-run home run to trim the deficit to 6-3. Waldorf was able to close the game out though with a pair of flyouts.
 
VCSU managed four hits in the game, including just two against Waldorf starter Zach Meyer who was dominant. Meyer went 6 1/3 innings, giving up just the solo home run to Reynolds while striking out nine Vikings.
 
Daniel Alvarado started for VCSU and worked 4 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and five earned runs. He walked just one batter and struck out three. Keeton Clark and Andrew Gartrell both pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief.
 
Reynolds, Veneman, Cam Pero and Kaden Rozdeba had VCSU's four hits.