Valley City, N.D. – The Valley City State Univesity Viking baseball team has moved into second place in the Frontier Conference after sweeping a doubleheader with Mayville State and sweeping the series with the Comets. The Vikings won 14-1 and 11-10 on Monday at Charlie Brown Field in two vastly different games.

Valley City State is now 22-19-1 overall and 9-11-1 in the Frontier Conference. Mayville State falls to 20-20 overall and 7-12 in the conference.

GAME 1: Valley City State 14, Mayville State 1
The Vikings struck first when Hunter Logan singled in Alexis Velasco with two out in the top of the first inning.

The Comets would get that run back in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Kevin Conway, scoring Cam Goff to tie the game at 1-1.

Then came the top of the second inning when VCSU sent 14 batters to the plate and scored nine runs. The first five batters reached on singles with Connor Hoyt's single bringing in the go ahead run. Cody Wielgosh followed that up with an infield, RBI single to make it 3-1. Velasco reached on a fielder's choice, Devin Minney scored to make it 4-1 Vikings. The line kept moving on Nick Senn's RBI single that scored Hoyt to make it 5-1. Brady Papineau scored Velasco with a single, making it 6-1 Vikings. When the ball was bobbled by the center fielder, courtesy runner Diesel Goya came in to score to make it 7-1. With the bases loaded, Kaden Rozdeba walked, Logan scored to make it 8-1. Minney then had an RBI single that scored Papineau, making it 9-1. Goya came in behind Papineau when the ball was bobbled in left field to make it 10-1 Vikings.

VCSU would add three runs in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Wielgosh and a long two-run home run by Alexis Velasco to make it 13-1.

The final run came in on a fielder's choice off the bat of Jackson Penner in the top of the seventh to make the final 14-1.

The Vikings pounded out 17 hits, 14 were singles. Nick Senn and Hunter Logan were each 3 for 4. Senn had an RBI, Logan scored a run and had an RBI. Alexis Velasco was 2 for 4 with three runs scored, a double, a home run, and three RBI. Connor Hoyt and Devon Minney were both 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI. Evan Gonzalez was 2 for 2 with a run scored. Kaden Rozdeba was 1 for 1 with two runs scored and an RBI. Cody Wielgosh was 1 for 4 with two RBI. Brady Papineau was 1 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI.

Connor Martin, who was named Frontier Conference Pitcher of the Week earlier in the day, was the benefactor of the offensive explosion. He allowed four hits and one unearned run in seven innings. He walked one and struck out nine. He improved to 7-3 and picked up his second consecutive complete game. He has now gone 20 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.

GAME 2: Valley City State 11, Mayville State 10
Valley City State scored first in the second game when Nick Senn drove in Hunter Logan with a double. Logan led off the game with a single.

The Comets took the lead with four runs in the bottom of the third. Tony Villarreal had RBI single. Cam Goff drove in two with a double and Jalen Denton had an RBI triple to make it 4-1 Comets.

VCSU two runs back in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Logan and a RBI single by Cody Wielgosh cutting the lead to 4-3.

Villarreal hit a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-3 Mayville State.

In the bottom of the fifth, Mayville State's Jack McQueen cleared the bases with a three-run triple, giving the Comets an 8-3 lead.

Valley City State regained the lead with six runs in the top of the seventh. Kaden Rozdeba brought in the first two with a double to make it 8-5. Cam Pero then gave the Vikings the lead with a grand slam home run over the left center field fence to make it 9-8 Vikings.

Mayville State came right back in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run single by Villarreal to make it 10-9 Comets.

In the eighth, Nick Senn led off with a double, then Brady Papineau singled to put runners at the corners. Evan Gonzalez hit into a 6-4-3 double play, courtesy runner Merik Junker scored to tie the game at 10-10.

In the top of the ninth, things got interesting. Cody Wielgosh walked to lead off the inning. However, Wielgosh and Mayville State catcher Rob Gurney got into a headed exchange with got both players ejected. Comet head coach Billy Tomblin was also ejected at the time. When play resumed, Velasco hit into a fielder's choice, and Senn struck out. Izzak Warholik came in to run for Velasco. Papineau then doubled to the gap in left center field, Warholik came around to score to give the Vikings the lead at 11-10.

In the bottom of the ninth, Cody Chapman struck out the first two batters. He walked McQueen then got Bode Roberts to pop out to first baseman Velasco to end the game and give the Vikings a sweep of the four-game series.

Nick Senn led the ten-hit attack by going 3 for 5 with a double and an RBI. Brady Papineau was 2 for 6 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI. Cam Pero was 1 for 2 with a grand slam home run, Kaden Rozdeba was 1 for 3 with a double, a run scored, and two RBI. Devon Minney was 1 for 2 with two runs scored. Hunter Logan and Cody Wielgosh were both 1 for 4. Logan scored a run and drove in one. Wielgosh drove in one.
Cody Chapman pitched three shutout innings in relief to pick up the win. He gave up one hit, walked one struck out six.

UP NEXT: The Vikings will host Bismarck State in a non-conference game Wednesday night at 6pm at Charlie Brown Field.