VALLEY CITY, N.D. – The Valley City State baseball team has announced their 2026 spring schedule. Trips to Kansas, South Dakota, and Florida will start their first spring season as a member of the Frontier Conference.

In February, the Vikings will be in McPherson, Kansas to play games against Central Christian College and Dordt University February 13^th and 14^th.

After a quick trip to Yankton, South Dakota for a three-game series with Mount Marty on February 21^st and 22^nd, it's off to sunny Florida and the RussMatt Invitational in Orlando, Florida March 2^nd through the 13^th. Valley City State is scheduled to play ten games in Florida before returning north.

The Vikings will be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the Frontier Conference Round Robin. Games with Bismarck State, Dakota State, Dickinson State, and Bellevue will be on the schedule in Sioux Falls.
The Vikings first series during conference play begins March 27^th when they travel to Bellevue University for a four-game series.

The Vikings will play a non-conference game with Bismarck State College on Tuesday, March 31^st at 1:00 p.m. to begin the spring home schedule.

The first home game on the conference schedule is April 3^rd when Dakota State comes to Charlie Brown Field for a doubleheader.

The Vikings are slated to play 25 conference games in the spring. All total; the Vikings have 45 games on the schedule for the spring. Twelve of the games on the schedule are against teams that were in the national tournament last season.

Key matchups against big-time opponents this spring include five games against #22 Bellevue (40-15), one game against Mount Vernon Nazarene (33-19), five matchups with Dakota State (26-24), seven matchups with Dickinson State (2025 National Tournament qualifier), three games with Mount Marty (29-22), one matchup with Northwestern (25-23), and one game with Trinity Baptist (27 wins).

The pitching staff has led the conference in strikeouts each of the last two years and returns most of the pitching staff for this season. Two of those arms are Takao Cookson, the 2023 North Star Conference Freshman-of-the-Year, and Connor Martin who led all freshman in the NSAA in innings pitched and strikeouts a year ago. During the fall, Martin struck out 18 batters in 14 innings and had a 3.21 ERA. Cookson had a win and a save in the fall. Grady Shipman pitched five innings and had a 1.80 ERA with three strikeouts. Eli Chabot did not allow a run in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five and allowed one hit. Anthony Carrasquillo did not allow a run in two innings of work.

The offensive lineup has several veterans returning after a very productive fall season.  Connor Hoyt led the way at the plate by hitting .400, with a double, triple, five runs, and five RBI. Porter Jorgenson hit .308 with four runs scored and three stolen bases. Kaden Rozdeba hit .333. Junior Cody Wielgosh hit .308 and scored four runs. Alexis Velasco, the 2024 NSAA Freshman-of-the-Year, hit .278 with three doubles. Newcomer Nicholas Senn did it at the plate and behind it. The Junior hit .353 and threw out three would be base stealers.
The Vikings are looking to build off back-to-back 20 wins seasons under third year head coach Alec DeMaria. Coach DeMaria will be assisted this season by TJ Hokanson, Cameron Pitts, Jay Mendez, and Daegan Morcom.