Hammond, Ind. – June 22, 2023 – Another day with the wind blowing in at Dowling Park set up a pitcher’s duel between the Southland Vikings and Indiana Panthers with the Vikings coming out on top 3-1 on Thursday.
Jorgie Vazquez threw five scoreless innings for the Vikings and Matt Maloney followed with a four inning save to bring the Vikings’ record back to .500.
Vazquez allowed just four baserunners in his five innings on two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch.
Both hits for the Panthers came in the second inning when Horacio Cabrales singled with two outs and Aaron Barrea followed with a double into the right field corner, but a perfect relay from Connor Janik to Adan Abarca to Matt Merk nailed Cabrales at the plate to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.
“I’m feeling locked in,” Vazquez (2-1) said after picking up his second win of the season. “Just trying to make good pitches and trying to get ahead in the count and then just let the defense work.”
The Vikings scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning after loading the bases on a walk, an error and a Jimmy Gurgone single. Charlie Dumo was then hit in the back with a pitch to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
The Vikings added to their lead in the sixth inning after Matt Merk doubled and scored on Jimmy Gurgone’s second single of the game. Gurgone advanced to third on the play as the throw from center field ended up sailing into the netting behind home plate. Gurgone then scored on a sacrifice fly from Dumo and the Vikings led 3-0.
The insurance runs proved to be important as the Panthers scored their lone run in the seventh inning. Jason Ballard singled with one out and then stole second. Later in the inning he took off to steal third base and ended up coming all the way around to score as the pitch ended up at the backstop.
Matt Maloney finished off the Panthers with the help of a 6-4-3 double play for the first two outs of the ninth inning, the second double play turned by the Vikings in the game. Maloney gave up just one run on four hits and one walk with four strikeouts in his four innings to pick up the save.
The Vikings played strong defense once again and limited the walks as they issued a season low two walks on the day.
“There are more ways than one to play winning baseball,” manager Sullivan Stickann said after his team won despite being outhit 6-4. “That’s what I’m preaching. We bunt, we draw walks, we get hit by pitches, we hustle, we play the best defense that we can play and those are all ways to play winning baseball. So, when one aspect of the game isn’t working, if you want to win and stick to the plan of playing winning baseball and don’t beat yourself, with our talent we are most likely going to come out on top.”
The Vikings (10-10) take their three-game winning streak to Oil City Stadium on Friday to take on the Northwest Indiana Oilmen (12-6). Nolan Vlcek is expected to start for the Vikings. First pitch is at 7:10.
