Vikings split, yet again

MOSES LAKE — Seeming to play one quality, well-rounded ball game and one where a major aspect whether it be defense, offense or pitching struggles seems to be the norm for the Vikes. After three consecutive splits, the Vikings needed to take two Saturday to make up ground in the Eastern Region playoff race.

BBCC hosted the Walla Walla Warriors on Saturday to wrap up the four-game set with Brendan McKinley on the bump. McKinley, who has been throwing the ball extremely well, continued to do so. McKinley was sharp yet again tossing 6 1/3 innings of one-run baseball while striking out seven, as the BBCC offense did their part. The Vikings managed to score 11 runs on 15 hits led by Gunnar Graves and Roman Basurto, who each collected three hits apiece while Rory Swanson, Ryley Doig and Oak Held all chipped in with two knocks of their own. Not only did five Vikings collect multiple hits, but Tyson Laugen topped off the offensive surge with 3 RBI in game one, totaling 9 RBI in his last two games resulting in an 11-2 victory. 

After taking care of game one, BBCC needed to finish the job. Dylan Schaefer took the mound for his second collegiate start and was spectacular, punching out 12 over six innings of work. The only blemish on Schaefer's outing was bad luck. Walla Walla managed to plate 5 runs off of Schaefer with many hits barely clearing the BBCC infielders. The freshman right-hander exited after six innings with a 6-5 lead before Bryce Laforest took over. Laforest struggled in his short outing. After the lead-off hitter reached via error, Laforest walked two batters before Nolan Soderstrom took over. Soderstrom was able to get an infield pop-up followed by three consecutive hits resulting in a five-run inning for the Warriors, putting the Vikings in a tough spot down 10-6. BBCC could not get anything going and ended up dropping game two by a score of 10-6.

"We just can't seem to put a full day of baseball together,” head coach Chase Tunstall said. “We show what we are capable of on both ends of the spectrum. We can play high-level ball, but can also do the opposite. We have put ourselves in a bad spot with 12 games to go. Basically having to win out for a chance at the postseason puts pressure on all of us. We are going to see what we are made of over these potentially final 12 games."

BBCC prepares to host Yakima Valley College on Wednesday to begin a critical four-game set at Viking Field at 1 and 4 p.m.