MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - The Vikings' loaded schedule continued today against Cortland (NY), as they lost by a final score of 11-7.
The game got going with Eric Fountain only surrendering one hit to get the Viking bats into the box with an opportunity to take an early lead.
The Vikings took full advantage, as a Garrett Lang walk and an Uhls double to right center scored Lang, before Uhls made his way around the horn on a wild pitch to make the score 2-0. The Vikings rounded the first inning out with an RBI single, scoring Ethan Finch to give Berry a quick 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning.
Cortland responded in a huge way with 5 hits in the top of the second that were good for 3 runs to even the score at the top of the second.
Tied up at the bottom of the second, a leadoff single for Jacob Bridges and another single from Uhls set up Xavier Byams with two away. A wild pitch advanced Bridges to third, as Byams faced a 2-strike count. The freshman battled his way into an 8-pitch at-bat but froze on a slider to end the second inning.
Coming into the third with 47 pitches, Fountain got into his groove to crawl out of the top of the third and set his batters up to take a lead.
A walk and catcher's interference sent the Vikings onto first and second, before Chaz Moore labeled a base hit into left field to juice the bases with Jacob Bridges headed into the box. Bridges would pick up an RBI on a ground ball, as Ethan Finch touched home plate to give Berry a 4-3 lead. A balk by the Cortland pitcher scored Daniel Hong to extend the Berry lead to 5-3. With thew bases loaded again for Berry, Tanaka Mukono battled his way to a walk, scoring another run for the Vikings, 6-3.
Jackson Halla began his day on the mound at the top of the fourth, as he got himself in a bases-loaded jam with 2 away. The Red Dragons bit back with a 2 RBI single to make the score 6-5 heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Chaz Moore would reach on a controversial fielder's choice, that scored Ethan Finch to push the Berry lead back to 7-5, heading into the top of the fifth.
Cortland responded with a run to cut the Berry advantage to one run, before Berry was held in check heading into the top of the sixth inning.
In desperate need of a clean frame, Jackson Halla delivered three up and three down to get the game into a nine-out ball game for the good guys with a one-run lead.
That lead held true until an error on a bunt clean up led to Cortland tying the game with no outs for the Vikings to speak of. With just one out, Cortland added a few more runs to push their lead 11-7, stealing all momentum heading into the bottom of the 8th.
Berry would not be able to make up ground, falling to the Red Dragons by a final score of 11-7 despite a valiant effort.
