VALLEY CITY – Valley City State dropped a pair of pitcher's duels on Thursday afternoon as the Viking baseball team played its final regular season home games.
 
Playing in a stiff wind blowing in from right field, VCSU lost game one to Dickinson State, 3-1, and then suffered a 3-0 loss in 11 innings during game two.
 
The Vikings drop to 18-29 overall and 10-12 in conference play. Dickinson State improves to 12-32 overall and 6-15 in conference play.
 
VCSU took time on Thursday to recognize its five seniors playing their final games at Charlie Brown Field: Keeton Clark, Riley Resnick, Dustin Mertz, Tory Nelson and Zach Veneman.
 
Up next: The Vikings and Blue Hawks will conclude their 4-game conference series on Saturday with a doubleheader in Dickinson. First pitched is scheduled for 12 p.m. MDT. The games were moved to Dickinson due to rain in the forecast for Valley City all weekend.
 
Dickinson State 3, VCSU 1
Hunter Magnuson pitched a complete game and struck out 11 for VCSU but suffered the tough-luck loss in the opener. Each team pushed across a run in the opening frame, and then put up zeroes until Dickinson State broke the 1-1 tie with a pair of runs in the sixth inning.
 
CJ Molina, Jace Buchanan and Mathias Dufner all had RBI hits for Dickinson State. Jamel Chabot drove in VCSU's only run with an RBI single in the first inning. The Vikings outhit the Blue Hawks 8-5. Both teams each committed one error.
 
Jaden Babiuk was 4-for-4 to lead the Viking offense, and Daegen Morcom went 2-for-3.
 
Magnuson pitched all 7 innings for VCSU, giving up five hits and three runs while striking out 11 batters.
 
Patrick Dietz started for Dickinson and went three innings, allowing four hits and a run. Anthony Hanson earned the win after two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, and Trent Chavez pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the save.
 
Dickinson State 3, VCSU 0 (11 innings)
Takao Cookson held the Blue Hawks scoreless through eight innings but the Vikings were unable to provide run support in game two as Dickinson won 3-0 in 11 innings.
 
Cookson diced his way through the order with efficiency for VCSU, pitching eight shutout innings. He allowed just three hits, did not walk a batter and struck out eight. Cookson has now allowed just three earned runs over his last three starts – a span of 24.2 innings – and has lowered his season ERA to a team-best 3.03. 
 
Connor Nelson was dealing in relief, but suffered an injury and left the game after allowing a batter to reach in the 11^th inning. The runner eventually scored as Dickinson put up 3 runs in the 11^th inning, including a pair of bases-loaded walks and an RBI single.
 
For the Blue Hawks, Trent Richter, Cooper Van Luchene and Jonathon Lerma combined for 11 shutout innings and 16 strikeouts on the mound. Richter went the first four, Van Luchene pitched the fifth, and then Lerma finished off the game with six shutout innings out of the bullpen.
 
Both teams managed only five hits each in the game. Jaden Babiuk and Jamel Chabot each had two hits for VCSU, and Wyatt Wilharm went 3-for-5 for Dickinson.