SEWANEE, Tenn. - Berry baseball hit the road for a series against Sewanee, beginning with a doubleheader where they dropped both games by final scores of 5-9 in game one and 3-4 in game two.
Game One (Berry 5 – Sewanee 9)
The Vikings fell victim to a double play with a runner on that led to their early threat. Pitcher Mason Snyder led the Vikings to the top of the second inning unscathed.
A lead-off single in the second inning from Andrew Pendleton and some nifty baserunning led to him scoring off a wild pitch to give Berry a 1-0 lead.
Snyder continued his stellar pitching in the bottom of the second frame, grounding out Sewanee in order to advance to the top of the third.
The Vikings went away quietly in the third allowed a Sewanee run off of a sacrifice fly to tie the game up at 1-1.
Berry's bats continued to falter in the top of the fourth, as three Vikings struck out. The Berry defense stepped up with a crucial double play that stranded a runner at third base to keep the score even heading into the top of the fifth.
After not generating any production from either team in the fifth, Berry got their bats back on track, as a lead-off double from Tanaka Mukono led to him later scoring to give Berry a 2-1 lead. Sewanee quickly responded with a run to tie the game at 2 heading into the seventh inning.
Some more lead-off magic from Pendleton was true, as he doubled to right field and would later score off a Sewanee throwing error to give the Vikings a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
A series of base hits spelled disaster for the Berry defense, as Sewanee drove in five runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 7-3 lead into the top of the 8th inning.
Facing adversity, Riley Uhls welcomed himself to the party, drilling a home run into the atmosphere to score two runs and cut the Sewanee lead in half, 7-5.
The Tigers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th that would be too much for the Vikings to overcome, as they fell 9-5.
Game Two (Berry 3 – Sewanee 4)
With Jackson Halla on the mound for the Vikings in game two, the Viking defense shined.
Despite two runners finding their way on base in the top of the first, no runs scored for the Vikings in the opening inning of play. The bottom of the first led to Halla sending the Sewanee batters away in order.
The second inning spelled the same fate as the first for the Berry offense as they stranded two runners on base. Halla responded with another lighting quick defensive inning, leaving the score at 0-0.
The two offenses stalled again in the third inning, as the defensive struggle continued for both teams.
The Viking bats found some juice in the top of the fourth, with Pendleton reaching after being hit by a pitch and coming home thanks to an RBI single from Jacob Bridges. With the 1-0 lead, the Viking base-runners became a bit too aggressive, as Bridges was thrown out at home plate.
Another masterful defensive inning led to the Vikings nursing a 1-0 lead at the top of the fifth. A plethora of Viking base hits led to Uhls and Garrett Lang scoring to make it a 3-0 ballgame heading down the stretch of the defensive battle.
A beautifully executed 6-4-3 double play got the Vikings going defensively in the bottom half of the fifth thanks to Lang, Garcia, and Uhls. A fly out would end the inning for Sewanee and place Berry back in the batter's box.
After going away in order at the top of the sixth, disaster struck for Berry, as a fielding error with the bases loaded led to Sewanee sneaking through three runs to tie the game and stun the Vikings.
After clawing their way out of the bottom of the sixth, the Viking bats lost their magic in the top of the seventh, setting up a daunting situation for the defense. With the bases loaded, a Tiger would walk to end the game in defeat for the Vikings as they lost 4-3.
