Entering a do-or-die game at Hendrix Saturday evening, Berry had only hit 10 homers as a team.

That would change.

Wesley Wade hit a solo shot to start the scoring, then Levi Cloud launched the game-winning homer in the eighth as the Vikings got solid pitching from Jackson Halla and Tyler Cassidy to defeat Hendrix, 2-1, in the final game of a Southern Athletic Association Baseball Championship Opening Round Series in Conway, Ark.

The win propels the Vikings into the final weekend of SAA play in Birmingham, Ala., beginning Thursday as Berry takes on Centre. The double-elimination tournament will continue through Saturday.

Berry managed just four hits in the second game of the day, as the hosts out-hit the guests 9-4. Still, Wade would put Berry on the board first as his two out drive to left cleared the wall to give Berry an early 1-0 lead.

Hendrix (27-15) would come right back in to tie the game in the bottom of the inning as Adam Bland would lead off with a double and come home after a pair of ground outs. That would prove to be the final run the Warriors would score in the 2023 season.

Halla would dance out of trouble in the second after a two-out double, then really wiggled out of a jam in the third after a triple put a potential go-ahead run 90-feet away. Halla would get help from his defense as a liner to first would be snared by Wade, then Halla came back to get a strikeout to end the inning.

Momentum made its biggest turn in the span of an inning on the scoreboard. A one-out single, followed by a two-out single and a walk would load the bases for the Warriors against Halla. Facing Bland who doubled to start the game offensively for Hendrix, Halla would get a fielder's choice to short, ending the threat as Hendrix left the bases loaded.

In the top half of the inning, Berry made Hendrix pay for the missed opportunities. Cloud attempted to bunt on an 0-1 pitch and fouled it towards the first base dugout. On the next offering, the junior swung for the fences, sending a majestic drive over the fence in left to give the Vikings the lead.

Halla would get a final punch out to start the eighth before handing the ball off to Tyler Cassidy. Hendrix would get runners on second and third with one out against the Berry closer, but the sophomore buckled down, getting a strikeout and a ground out to preserve the one-run lead.

In the ninth, a single on a full count pitch with two out extended the game for another batter for the Warriors. Unlike the night before when a lightning delay forced Cassidy from the game early, the hurler would stay in to get the final out. A high pop up into the clear, dusky Arkansas sky dropped into the glove of Garrett Lang at short and the Vikings punched their tickets to Birmingham.