Hammond, Ind. – July 24, 2023 – The Southland Vikings played a tight contest for the first six innings against the Lake County Corn Dogs on Monday before the Corn Dogs pulled away in the seventh enroute to a 10-4 win.

The Corn Dogs became the first team in the Northern League to officially punch their ticket into the playoffs this season and also clinched the season series over the Vikings with their sixth win in eight matchups.

The Vikings never led in the game as the Corn Dogs took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third on a two-run triple by Gavin Terry and an RBI single from Ranko Stevanovic.

The Vikings scored a run of their own in the bottom of the frame after Charlie Schau led off the inning with a single to extend his hitting streak to seven consecutive games and he eventually scored on an RBI single by Shemar Harris with two outs in the inning.

Southland tied the game at three in the fourth inning with another clutch two-out hit as Schau drove in Jaylen Nauden and Hobbs Dunne with his second single in as many innings.

Lake County answered right back, however, with a two-run double by Gavin Terry, giving him a four RBI day.

The score remained 5-3 until the seventh inning. After the first batter of the inning was retired, the Corn Dogs saw six straight reach safely as they scored five runs to take a 10-3 lead.

The Vikings got one run back in the eighth but could not pull any closer, ultimately falling 10-4.

“We only had four runs, but we did make some mistakes on the bases and left a lot of runners on base, so we really didn’t hit bad at all,” manager Sullivan Stickann said. “I was happy with the way we struck the ball and then that seventh inning just killed us.”

The Vikings (23-19) remain in third place in the Northern League standings with every team having just nine regular season games left.

Next for the Vikings is their final regular season matchup with the Indiana Panthers (19-25) at Highland High School. First pitch is at 7pm.