VALLEY CITY – The Valley City State and Dickinson State baseball teams played a marathon 22-inning doubleheader Saturday afternoon, splitting a pair of games at Valley City's Charlie Brown Field.
 
Scheduled to be just two 7-inning games, Saturday's doubleheader turned into nearly 8 hours of baseball. The Vikings won game one in walk-off fashion, winning in the bottom of the ninth on a wild pitch. In game two, the Blue Hawks scored five runs in the top of the 13^th inning as they won 11-7 in a game that went 4 hours and 42 minutes.
 
With the split, Valley City State is now 2-1 during the fall baseball season. Dickinson State moves to 1-3.
 
Up next: Valley City State plays a single 9-inning game on Wednesday, Sept. 20, at the University of Jamestown.
 
Game 1: VCSU 5, Dickinson State 4 (9 innings)
Jay Greuel drew a pinch-hit walk in the bottom of the ninth, leading to the eventual winning run. Greuel was lifted for pinch runner Zach Venemen, who eventually came around to score the winning run on a wild pitch.
 
Kahlil Tilbury picked up the win with two no-hit innings in relief. Tilbury struck out four and walked just one as he pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings. Hunter Magnuson started on the mound and went seven solid innings, scattering seven hits and four runs. He did not walk a batter and struck out eight.
 
VCSU finished with five runs on six hits and committed one error. The Blue Hawks scored their four runs on seven hits and committed one error.
 
Justin Rogers had a pair of hits and an RBI for VCSU, and Jaden Babiuk hit a solo home run. Judson Seliskar and Anthony Madsen each had a hit and scored a run.
 
Game 2: Dickinson State 11, VCSU 7 (13 innings)
The teams traded runs throughout game two and were tied 4-4 after seven innings. The Blue Hawks put up two runs in the top of the 10^th, but Valley City State answered back with two runs of its own – getting RBI hits from Babiuk and Daigen Morcom – in the bottom of the 10^th to keep the marathon game alive.
 
Dickinson State broke through with five runs in the top of the 13^th as they finished off the 11-7 victory.
 
VCSU scored its seven runs on 14 hits and committed three errors. Dickinson State had 11 runs on 15 hits and committed just one error.
 
The Vikings had seven players with two hits each as Babiuk, Morcom, Kaden Rozdeba, Madsen, Seliskar, Tory Nelson and Veneman all collected a pair of hits. Nelson doubled and drove in two runs, while Madsen had a triple and scored twice.
 
Connor Nelson took the hard-luck loss despite pitching well in relief. The sophomore lefty gave up just two hits as he went 2 1/3 innings, coming on to work out of a jam in the 10^th inning. He kept the Blue Hawks scoreless in the 11^th and 12^th innings before giving up a leadoff single in the 13^th. Christopher Dietrich started on the mound and went 4 2/3 innings, giving up three hits and two runs. He walked five and struck out six. Freshman Takao Cookson pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings, scattering three hits and striking out four.
 
The teams combined to use 14 pitchers who threw 508 total pitches in the game.