YANKTON, S.D – Game 1 was a pitcher's duel, game two was not so much. Valley City State took game 1 of its twin bill with Mount Marty 3-2, the Lancers came back to take the second game 11-5 in Yankton, South Dakota.

The Vikings are now 6-5 on the young season. Mount Marty is 6-4

GAME 1: Valley City State 3, Mount Marty 2
Mount Marty struck first when Cooper Minarik hit a 2-run home run to right field in the bottom of the second to give the Lancers the early 2-0.

Valley City State came back to take the lead in the top of the fourth. With one out, Kaden Rozdeba walked, then moved to second on Nicholas Senn's single. Cam Pero singled to center, but Rozdeba was thrown out trying to score on the play. Jackson Penner then crushed a three-run homer to center field to give the Vikings a 3-2 lead.

Takao Cookson settled in after the home run by Minarik. He would allow just one hit and five baserunners over the next five innings. After hitting the leadoff man in the bottom of the seventh, Cookson handed the game over to Grady Shipman. Corbett Freeman, trying to bunt the runner over, popped out to Shipman. Shipman, trying to double off the runner at first, threw wildly to first allowing Kimo Wilinski to move to second. Shipman then struck out Lucas Kampshoff and Jalen Owens to end the game.

Cookson went six innings, allowed three hitsm two earned runs. He walked two and fanned six. Shipman picks up the save with a clean seventh.

Seven different players had at least one hit for the Vikings. Kaden Rozdeba was 1 for 2. Nick Senn, Cam Pero, Brady Papineau, and Jackson Penner were all 1 for 3. Pero and Penner scored a run, and Penner had three RBI with his home run. Connor Hoyt and Alexis Velasco were each 1 for 4.

GAME 2: Mount Marty 11, Valley City State 5
In game two, the Vikings got on the board first. Connor Hoyt led off the game by reaching on an error. With two out, and Hoyt at second after a stolen base, Hunter Logan singled to right, scoring Hoyt to make it 1-0 Vikings.

In the bottom of the first, the Lancers tied the game at 1. Tyler Vance led off with a double to left center field. Jalen Owens sacrificed him to third. Owen nearly beat out the bunt but was called out on a bang-bang play at first. Vance scored a wild pitch to make it 1-1.

In the third inning, Cam Pero crushed a 2-0 pitch over the left field fence to lead off the top of the third to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the third, Jalen Owens gave the Lancers the lead when he homered over the left field fence, scoring Vance who had a two-out double.

Mount Marty broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, Liam Forsyth singled deep to right scoring two runs. With runners at first and second, Viking catcher Nick Senn intended to try a pickoff throw and ended up spiking the ball and it rolled out towards short. On the play Cooper Minarik scored from third to make it 6-2 Lancers. Owens then singled to right field, scoring Zach Clark to make it 7-2 Mount Marty. With runners at second and third and two out, Daniel Vonnegut hit a jam shot towards first base. Alexis Velasco miss-played the ball then his underhand flip to pitcher Easton Francis covering the bag was wide and pulled Francis off the bag. Two runners came in to score to make it 9-2 Lancers after four.

The Vikings, however, came back with a three-spot in the top of the fifth. With runners at second and third and two out, Hunter Logan singled to center field. Brady Papineau and Connor Hoyt scored to make it 9-4. Kaden Rozdeba doubled to right, scoring Logan to make it 9-5.

In the bottom of the inning, Mount Marty got two runs back on a two-out, two-run single by Tyler Vance that made it 11-5.

That would be the final as the two teams split the doubleheader.

Hunter Logan led the offense by going 3 for 3 with a run scored and three RBI. Cam Pero was 1 for 2 with a solo home run. Nick Senn was 1 for 3 with a double. Brady Papineau and Kaden Rozdeba were both 1 for 4. Papineau scored a run while Rozdeba had an RBI. Connor Hoyt scored twice from the leadoff spot.

UP NEXT: The Vikings are off until Monday when they head to Orlando, Florida for the RussMatt Invitational. VCSU is scheduled to play ten games before returning north. They open with Mount Vernon Nazarene University out of Ohio on Monday, March 2^nd. First pitch is scheduled for 2pm CT.