ORLANDO, FLA. – The Valley City State University improves their overall record to 8-8 after defeating the Dordt University Defenders 9-2 on Saturday, March 7. The Dordt Defenders are now 9-9 overall.
Valley City State used an early offensive push and strong pitching to secure a 9–2 win over Dordt. The Vikings struck first in the opening inning when
Alexis Velasco delivered an RBI double to right field to score
Hunter Logan. Later in the frame,
Brady Papineau added a run-scoring groundout, giving VCSU a 2–0 lead after one inning.
Dordt answered in the third inning, loading the bases with a pair of walks and a single. Jimmy Twombley drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the Defenders' first run, and a sacrifice fly from Drew Oreskes tied the game at 2–2. The Vikings would then escape the inning 2-2.
VCSU quickly responded in the bottom of the fourth with their biggest inning of the game. Nick Senn singled to load the bases before
Diesel Goya lined a two-run single to right field to give VCSU the lead back. A balk brought another run home, and
Hunter Logan followed with an RBI single to center, extending the advantage to 5–2 and putting Valley City State in control.
From there, the VCSU pitching staff shut down the Dordt offense. Relievers combined to limit scoring opportunities while the Vikings added insurance runs with a
Hunter Logan home run later in the game to stretch the lead. With timely hitting and solid pitching throughout, Valley City State pulled away for a convincing 9–2 victory over the Defenders.
VCSU's
Takao Cookson was credited the win moving to 3-1 on the season. He tallied three strikeouts, pitching five innings yielding only four hits. Dordt's Daniel Buteyn was credited the loss moving to 2-1 overall. He gave up 5 runs in three innings.
On offense, the Vikings were led by
Hunter Logan, who went 3/5 with three RBIs, two runs, along with a home run.
Alexis Velasco was 2/3 with one RBI, and one run.
UP NEXT: The Vikings are set to take one Aquinas College on Sunday, March 8 at 4:15 p.m. in Orlando, Fla.
