Hunter Vaculik rips a single for Evergreen during Friday’s NWOAL matchup with Liberty Center. The Vikings earned wins over Wauseon and Holgate, but fell to LC in games late last week.
Max Householder | AIM Media Midwest
Evergreen’s Nick Smithmyer pitches in relief versus Liberty Center Friday. The Vikings would fall to the Tigers 7-4.
Max Householder | AIM Media Midwest
In an up and down then back up series of games, Evergreen beat Wauseon Thursday, dropped a sloppy performance to Liberty Center Friday, then righted themselves for a win over Holgate on Saturday to move to 7-4 on the season.
Viking pitchers looked more like Nuke LaLoosh against Wauseon, walking seven Indian hitters and throwing half a dozen wild pitches.
However the trio of RJ Shunck, Nick Smithmyer, and Landen Vance combined to strike out 12 Wauseon batters to make up for the freebies in a 5-3 victory.
Brock Hudik walked, stole second and rode home on Shunck’s single to give Evergreen a first inning lead.
Wauseon knotted the game in the second on a walk, two wild pitches and Jude Armstrong’s chopper that eluded Shunck for an infield single.
However, Shunck made amends in the third with a double down the left field line and crossed the plate on Connor Hewson’s single to regain a Viking lead.
Evergreen added on in the fourth when Isaac Overfield’s pop fly down the right field line fell for a hit to start the inning.
A stolen base, sacrifice and groundball brought him home for a 3-1 lead. Then after a walk, wild pitch and two fly balls brought Wauseon within 3-2, Hunter Vaculik came up with the biggest hit of the game, a two-strike, two-run single to extend the Evergreen advantage to 5-2.
“It worked out for us when we bunt guys over and we got a hit to score a run,” said Viking coach Mark Cymbolin. “At times we did a good job moving guys over even without the bunt, we executed at those times.
“RJ didn’t last as long as we would’ve liked but Nick came in and did a good job and Landen closed the deal. Wins are tough to come by in the league and you have to make big plays or big pitches or get big hits at the right time.”
Wauseon got one back in the seventh on Kage Little’s double and two more wild pitches before Vance struck out three to end the game.
However, those big hits and big plays did not happen the next day against Liberty Center.
The Tigers scored five unearned runs early, jumping out to a 6-0 lead and held off an Evergreen rally for a 7-4 win.
An uncharacteristic four Viking errors aided the Tiger cause.
The next day against Holgate, the Vikings got a bounceback 9-1 romp over the Tigers.
Layne Vance went 3-4 while Landen Vance had a home run and three runs batted in.
Brady Kanneman went 2-3 with a double and Alex Peete knocked home two runs to pace the Viking offense.
Vaculik and Hudik combined for a five-hitter, losing the shutout in the seventh.
The Vikings host Lake Tuesday, then Delta on Thursday.
