ORLANDO, FLA. – The Valley City State University baseball team extends their win streak to five after defeating Trinity College of Jacksonville 7-4 on Thursday, March 12. The Vikings improve their overall record to 12-8 and are 6-3 in their trip to the RussMatt Invitational. Trinity College falls to 8-12 to start their season.
 
VCSU threatened in the first with a Cody Wielgosh double and an Alexis Velasco single, but the Vikings were unable to bring home the game's first run. Trinity struck first in the bottom of the opening frame when Larson Lott doubled to left field to score Tyson LaChapelle, giving TCJ a 1–0 lead.
 
Valley City State exploded in the second inning scoring all seven of their runs. Nick Senn started the run with a single to left and grabbed an extra base from an error by the left fielder. Anthony Madsen then singled to right advancing Senn to third. With Senn in scoring position, Devon Minney popped a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game 1-1. Later in the inning with two outs, Hunter Logan doubled that brought home Madsen. Then Cody Wielgosh and Alexis Velasco each earned a trip to first after being a hit by pitches, also loading the bases. Hunter Logan grounded to short reaching on an error, while Logan would score. Bases still loaded, Brady Papineau would take the third HBP of the inning allowing Wielgosh to score. Nick Senn then laid down a two RBI single that make the Vikings lead 6-1. Anthony Madsen followed with a single of his own bringing home Brady Papineau to cap of the seven-run inning.
 
The VCSU pitching staff and defense kept Trinity quiet through the middle innings. Trinity put runners on in the third, fifth, and sixth but couldn't break through as the Vikings recorded key outs to maintain the six-run cushion. Meanwhile, the Vikings continued to create traffic on the bases, with Wielgosh collecting another hit and Velasco adding a single later in the game, though Trinity's pitching kept VCSU from adding to the lead.
 
Trinity mounted a late push in the seventh and eighth innings. They scored once in the seventh and added two more in the eighth on a two-run single by Gadriel Burgos to cut the deficit to 7–4. However, the Vikings bullpen held firm down the stretch. After Trinity put a runner on in the ninth, Valley City State closed the door with back-to-back strikeouts to seal the victory and secure the 7–4 win.
 
Nicholas Senn led the Vikings offensive efforts going 2/3 with two RBIs and a run. Anthony Madsen was 2/4 with an RBI and a run. Takao Cookson delivered six innings pitched with four strikeouts allowing only one run earning the win improving to 4-1 on the season. Trinity's Jacob Brigman went six innings yielding seven runs and was credited the loss. He is now 4-2 on the season.
 
UP NEXT: The Vikings will face Mayville State on Friday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m.