MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - Winners of seven of their last nine, the Vikings of Berry College will travel to Conway, Ark., for the Opening Round of the Southern Athletic Association Baseball Championship and a three-game series with host Hendrix. First pitch in the series is set for 7 p.m. EDT Friday night.

Berry took two out of three from the Warriors two weekends ago here; however, a slow start in SAA play doomed the Vikings to the No. 5 seed in the tournament. While Berry also took two of three from Centre last weekend, Hendrix was able to sweep SAA regular season champion Birmingham-Southern to clinch the No. 4 seed in the tournament and the right to host an opening round series.

Berry and the Warriors played a classic series at William R. Bowdoin Field. The Vikings won the first game in walk-off fashion, 4-3 in 11 innings, when Zachary Hardee legged out an infield hit with the Warriors' right side of the infield shifted away from the first base bag. In the second game of the series, the Vikings left the tying run on base in four of the final five innings, as a Hendrix sacrifice fly from Drake Job in the fifth stood up for a 5-4 Hendrix win. The final game was the only game decided by more than one run as the Vikings scored two runs in each of their last three innings at the plate to earn a 7-5 win.

While the bats struggled to get going at times earlier this season, the Vikings have had double-digit hit totals in their last 11 games. Individually, Nick Brunswick's 61 hits rank him 10th all-time in Berry's D-III era as he currently sits seven behind the all-time mark of 68.

The series will end when a team has won two games, meaning that if a team wins the Friday night contest and then the Saturday afternoon game at 2 p.m. EDT, the final game of the series will not be necessary.

All eight SAA baseball teams are playing in a three-game set this weekend in an effort to reach the SAA Championship final bracket. That bracket will commence next Thursday, May 5, at the home of the highest remaining seed in the tournament.