The Vikings split a four-game series with Oklahoma Wesleyan over the weekend in Minneapolis, Minn. The Vikings won the first game 5-4, dropped the next two contests 4-3 and 5-4, before winning the final game of the series 4-1.

In the first game on Friday, the Vikings started slow, but erupted for a three-run sixth inning. The inning started with Devlin Hogans (Des Moines, Iowa) was hit by a pitch start the inning followed by a double from Cory Burnes (Tama, Iowa) to drive Hogans in. Chris Cutler (Des Moines, Iowa) and Marc Mericle (West Des Moines, Iowa) both reached base and were driven in on an A.J. Krist (West Des Moines, IA) double to trim the lead to one.

The Vikings trailed 4-3 going in to the top of the seventh, but added three more runs thanks to doubles by Burnes and Mericle in the inning. Mericle drove in Burnes for the winning run. The combination of Grant Pinkley (Bondurant, Iowa) and Jason Davila (Plantation, Flor.) shut down the Eagles in the last five innings to help the Vikings pick up the victory. Pinkley earned the win striking out three and giving up one hit over four innings. Davila picked up the save striking out one and not giving up a hit in the last inning.

The second game was tightly contested throughout, but the Vikings couldn't push a run across in the final three innings after the Eagles' four-run fourth inning. The Vikings scored all three of their runs in the third inning that started with a Kyler Morgan (Carlisle, Iowa) triple. Morgan would later score on a Cameron Olinger (Puyallup, Wash.) fielder's choice. Burnes hit a single that drove in Olinger and Mericle hit a single later in the inning to drive in Burnes. The Vikings put the ball in play in the last four frames but could not string enough hits together and fell to the Eagles 4-3.

The same would hold true in the third game Saturday in which the Vikings lost 5-4. The Eagles jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but the Vikings responded with a two-run second inning started that started with singles by Cutler and Jeff Brooks (Forest Lake, Minn.). Both were driven in by an Olinger sac fly and an error on the Eagle shortstop on a ball hit by Burnes. Brooks and Krist would score later in the game to make it 5-4 going in to the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Vikings were sat down 1-2-3 in the sixth and seventh inning en route to the close loss.

The Vikings rebounded in the final game of the series, 4-1, thanks in large part to pitcher Jared Meggison (Grimes, Iowa). Meggison threw a complete game striking out three, allowing six hits, and one earned run to pick up the victory. Nick Billinger (Windsor, Co.) led the team at the plate going 2-4 with a home run, two runs scored, and an RBI. Cutler was 2-3 with a run scored and three stolen bases in the game.

The Vikings are off until they head down to Daytona Beach, Florida for the Spring Break Jamboree March 12-16.