Baseball: Vikings Stay Perfect, Run Win Streak to 18 in County Showdown Win Over Cedar Crest

On Friday, Northern Lebanon put its perfect 17-0 record on the line against Cedar Crest, with the Falcons hoping to become the first team this season to add a loss to the Vikings’ record. Instead, Northern Lebanon kept rolling, using a six-run 1st inning and another five-run burst in the 4th to defeat Cedar Crest 11-1 in five innings.

With Adrian Gonzalez on the mound, the Vikings set the tone early. The senior worked through a quick 1st inning and picked up his first strikeout of the game, giving Northern Lebanon’s offense a chance to immediately take control.

That chance did not go to waste. Andrew Via started the bottom of the 1st with a single, then moved all the way to 3rd after a wild throw to first. Landon Copenhaver followed with an RBI double to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. After Owen Fahringer singled to move Copenhaver to 3rd, another throw on the basepaths allowed Copenhaver to score and made it 2-0.

The inning continued to snowball from there. Gonzalez helped himself with a two-run single, stretching the lead to 4-0. After Kole Lesher entered as a pinch runner and moved up on a wild pitch, Conner Stoltz drove him in with an RBI single. Later in the inning, freshman Tyler Hornberger added an RBI single of his own, helping Northern Lebanon build a 6-0 lead before Cedar Crest was able to get out of the inning.

Once the Vikings had the early cushion, Gonzalez continued to control the game. He struck out two more batters in the 2nd, added two more in the 3rd, and kept Cedar Crest off the scoreboard through the first four innings.

Cedar Crest did find a way to slow Northern Lebanon down in the 3rd, turning a double play after Kaden Beamesderfersingled and Stoltz drew a walk. However, the pause in the Vikings’ offense did not last long.

Northern Lebanon broke things open again in the 4th. Blake Burdick started the inning with a double, and Via followed with a terrific bunt single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Burdick scored on a balk to make it 7-0, and Via later came home on a Copenhaver RBI single.

The pressure kept building throughout the inning. Fahringer added another single, Gonzalez brought in another run with a base hit, and a wild pitch later scored Fahringer to make it 10-0. An RBI single by Christian Anspach capped the inning as the Vikings scored five runs on seven hits to push the lead to 11-0.

To its credit, Cedar Crest kept battling and got on the board in the 5th when Chase Norris delivered an RBI single. The Falcons continued to apply pressure and put runners on, but Gonzalez finished things off with another pair of strikeouts to secure the mercy-rule win.

On the mound, Gonzalez earned the win by allowing three hits and one run over five innings while striking out eight and walking two. For Cedar Crest, Davin Kolter took the loss after giving up 11 runs on 15 hits over four innings while striking out two and walking one.

The Vikings finished with 15 hits, with Stoltz, Fahringer, Burdick, Copenhaver, Via, and Gonzalez each collecting two. Copenhaver and Gonzalez each drove in two runs as Northern Lebanon’s lineup kept pressure on Cedar Crest from the opening inning.

Coach Travis Thome was pleased with the Vikings’ approach at the plate.

“Extremely pleased with our approach at the plate today,” Thome said. “We attacked the fastball, were able to put pressure on their defense, and the guys did not stop. Overall, that was a great win.”

Freshman Hornberger pointed to the team’s confidence as the Vikings continue to stack wins.

“We continued to keep our streak and keep on winning,” Hornberger said. “Any team who sees us in the playoffs will have a problem.”

Northern Lebanon is now 18-0. The Vikings will look to move one step closer to a perfect regular season when they host Annville-Cleona on Monday. Cedar Crest drops to 6-10 and remains on the postseason bubble, but the Falcons will not have to wait long for their next opportunity as they host McCaskey on Saturday afternoon.