Mitch Elliott and Ben Gullo led the Will County CrackerJacks (23-13) past the Southland Vikings (15-19) on Wednesday night at Homewood-Flossmoor High School.
The CrackerJacks took the lead right away, scoring two runs in the first inning. After three scoreless innings, Elliott homered in the fifth to make it 3-0. Will County added one more in the sixth inning to take a 4-0 lead.
Southland finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth thanks to an RBI single by James Dawson. But that would be it for the Vikings, as they would not score again while the CrackerJacks added three more runs in the final innings to win 9-1. Leading the way offensively for the CrackerJacks was Elliott who went 3 for 4 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
Jim Tucker (0-4) started for the Vikings and put up a solid effort, going six innings while allowing three earned runs on nine hits. But Ben Gullo (4-1) shut the Vikings down as he went seven innings, giving up one earned run on five hits while striking out five. In fact, no Viking batter recorded multiple hits. Gullo picked up the win while Tucker received the loss.
The Vikings will head to Whiting, IN for the seventh time this season where they will take on the Northwest Indiana Oilmen (22-12). The Oilmen lead the overall series between the two teams, 6-2.