Grand View (19-15, 10-5 MCC) spent the weekend competing against MCC foe Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids. The Vikings took two of three games from the Mustangs. Offensive explosions in the first and third games of the series were enough to help the Vikings gain two important conference victories over fifth place Mount Mercy.
In the first game of the series on Friday, the Vikings scored three first inning runs on just two hits. Cory Burnes (Tama, IA) led off the game with a solo home run to left center. After the Vikings scored three runs in the first, Mount Mercy came to bat and put four runs on the board. The early offense continued as Grand View answered with two runs in the top half of the second inning. Despite not getting a base hit in the second inning, Grand View capitalized on Mount Mercy mistakes to score twice on a wild pitch and an infield error.
The Vikings offense scored two more times on home runs from Kyler Morgan (Carlisle, IA) and Cameron Olinger (Puyallup, WA). Morgan's solo home run came in the sixth inning and Olinger's two run home run in the seventh inning helped the Vikings gain the 8-5 road victory. Grand View's leadoff hitter, Cory Burnes led the team with two hits, scoring twice and driving home one run.
The road was not nearly as kind for the Vikings in the second game on Saturday. Mount Mercy scored in five of the six innings, including six runs in the sixth and final inning. Grand View was only able to get six hits, scoring three times, while Mount Mercy pounded out seventeen hits and thirteen runs. The lone bright spot for the Vikings in the second game was Brady Wathen's (Ankeny, IA) two run home run to left field in the top of the fifth inning. Wathen's home run was not the only deep shot of the contest, Mount Mercy finished with three home runs of their own. The Mustangs took the second game 13-3 in six innings.
Sunday afternoon the Vikings finished their three game series with the Mustangs of Mount Mercy. Grand View continued their early inning success, with one run in the top half of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Corey Burnes walked, Marc Mericle singled and Curtis Quijano was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Matt Dunn. Dunn flew out to right field, scoring Burnes for the first Vikings run of the afternoon. The top half of the second inning was much of the same for the Vikings, as the first three hitters of the inning reached on singles. By the end of the inning, Grand View had scored six runs on six hits, including two more RBIs from Dunn on his double. Burnes capped off a great game at the plate in the top of the ninth inning when he homered to begin the inning, giving the Vikings the 14-7 road victory. Burnes drove in four runs, scored five times and finished the third game of the series against the Mustangs with four hits. Kyler Morgan ended the game with two hits and two runs scored. Junior Ricky Pankey gave up three earned runs and four hits to get the victory.
Grand View will be in action at home on Tuesday, April 13th. The Vikings will take on William Penn University (18-11, 9-4 MCC). The Statesmen and Vikings are both sitting a half-game behind Iowa Wesleyan for the top spot in the conference standings.
