Berry strung together the hits it needed at the right time, and a strong pitching performance from Patrick O'Rourke helped the Vikings to a 6-3 win over Hendrix in Conway, Ark., in the first game of the Southern Athletic Association Opening Round.

The Vikings (19-20) now need to win once Saturday to move on to the final site of the SAA Championship. If Berry wins the 2:00 p.m. EDT game, the second of the series, the third game wouldn't be played. However, a Hendrix win would make the third game necessary.

The game didn't feature much offense until the latter stages of the game. Berry took a lead in the fifth after Levi Cloud doubled, then stole third as Joey Garcia walked. During the next at-bat, a wild pitch was uncorked to the backstop, allowing Cloud to scamper home with the icebreaker.

On the defensive side of the ball, O'Rourke cruised through six innings, allowing four hits and fanning four while getting 10 lazy flyouts along the way. O'Rourke would give way to Tyler Cassidy to start the seventh, with the hurler pitching a scoreless inning.

In the eighth, the Vikings tacked on two more. An RBI knock to center by Riley Uhls plated Zachary Hardee with an unearned run to double BC's lead. After an Andrew Pendleton single, Wesley Maxey followed suit with a single into left, plating Uhls to make it 3-0.

After another scoreless inning from Cassidy, Berry tacked on some needed insurance in the ninth. Joey Garcia singled and stole second, then motored home as Hardee singled to right. Hardee then advanced into scoring position with a stolen base, moving over to third as Nick Brunswick singled and slid into second on the throw back into the center of the diamond. Hardee would trot home on a passed ball, then with two out, pinch hitter Wesley Wade singled back up the middle to score Brunswick with Berry's sixth run of the game.

Cassidy would allow a pair of hits to start the ninth, but with a 2-2 count, lightning in the distance forced the umpires to pull the teams off the field and start a weather delay. Forty minutes later, Ben Coody came on in relief. The two inherited runners would score, then with the bases loaded, Koby Dunn came in to try to earn a sudden save. A ground out would bring in a third run, but a pair of punchouts by Dunn would close the game out and give the Vikings the win, 6-3.

O'Rourke improved to 6-1 with the win, while Dunn earned his first save.

Berry will look to clinch the series tomorrow afternoon.