MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - The Vikings rematched with Cortland in the final game of the Berry College Invitational, where they dominated by a final score of 17-7 in 7 innings of play.
JohnMark Christopher was phenomenal on the mound, delivering 6 innings of work, including multiple frames that ended in zeros for Cortland.
Chaz Moore had a career day with 3 hits and 3 RBI to spark the Viking offense. Austin Jetmore was terrific as well, driving home five total runs and recording his first career triple.
JohnMark Christopher welcomed Cortland back to William R. Bowdoin, with three consecutive groundouts from his infield crew to get the Vikings into the bottom of the first unscathed against a high-octane Red Dragon lineup. Cortland returned the favor to the Vikings as well to send the game into the second inning scoreless.
Christopher continued his strong start, despite hitting a batter, the freshman retired 3 out of 4 Red Dragons to send his team into the bottom of the second frame. With one out, Tanaka Mukono faced a 1-1 pitch and drilled it for a stand-up double. Ethan Finch continued his productive stretch of plate appearances with an RBI single to make the score 1-0 with just one out at the bottom of the second. Daniel Hong stepped into the box and joined the action, driving in an RBI single, as Byams scored all the way from second base to make the score 2-0. After a base knock from Chase Edmonds, an RBI single from Garrett Lang continued the big inning, as Hong came home. The revolving door of Vikings on base paths continued, as Chaz Moore nailed a base hit to score Chase Edmonds and make it a 4-0 affair in favor of the good guys.
The soap opera of the bottom of the second frame continued with an intentional walk of Riley Uhls that loaded the bases once again for the Vikings. Austin Jetmore stepped to the plate with confidence and delivered a knockout blow that resulted in a 2-run RBI to make it 6-0, as Cortland finally managed a third out to stop the bleeding.
A nasty backdoor slider from JohnMark Christopher retired the first batter of the third frame and he followed it up with a flyout and an eventual popout to peer his way into the bottom of the third.
The magic continued in the bottom of the third, as Ethan Finch and Xavier Byams tag-teamed to fill up second and third base with nobody out. A walk led to a bases-loaded situation, with just one out and an optimistic Garrett Lang at the plate. A troublesome error led to yet another Viking run to make the score 7-0. The Vikings continued to gallivant around the bases, as five more runs came home for the Vikings to make it a whopping 12-0 lead.
Christopher finally gave up two runs in the top of the fourth inning, as the Viking lead was cut to 10 runs. Chaz Moore continued his terrific day at the bottom of the fourth inning, as he labeled a base hit to right field to score another run for Berry, extending the lead back to 11, 13-2.
The party was just getting started, as Jetmore turned on the jets to get his first career trouble, scoring another doozy to make the score 15-2 heading into the fifth inning.
Adding another zero to the scoreboard for Cortland was JohnMark Christopher, in what shaped up to be his best performance as a Viking.
After adding two runs in the bottom of the fifth, Cortland roared back with five unanswered runs to make it 17-7, endangering the possible 7-inning run rule.
Cooper Chunn came out of the dugout with a malice, sitting down the Red Dragons with the help of a crucial batter's interference, leaving the Vikings with a run rule 17-7 win over Cortland, closing the Berry Invitational with a win.
