The Pelican Rapids baseball team lost to Morris 9-2 and Hancock 2-0 on Friday before salvaging the final game of the Morris Tournament on Saturday against Silver Bay, winning 5-4 in 8 innings. 

Morris broke open a close game with 2 runs in the 5th and 4 more in the 6th to beat the Vikings 9-2.  Pelican got on the board first when they loaded the bases with one out on Carson McNeal’s single, an error and a walk.  After a force out at the plate, Logan Fahje scored on a passed ball.  Morris took the lead in the 4th with 2 runs on a double, a pair of walks and a passed ball.  Pelican tied the game in the 4th when with 2 outs, Hayden Christenson and Reggie Funk singled, Damian Britton was hit by a pitch and Weston Funk’s walk forced in Christenson.  That was it for the Vikings as only 2 more batters reached.  Brock Sjolie doubled in the 5th and Christenson singled in the 6th. 

Britton went 4 innings on the mound, taking the loss, giving up 5 runs(4 earned), striking out 3 and walking 4.  Justin Verdorn pitched the 5th and Fahje the 6th.  

Reggie Funk got the other 2 hits for Pelican and did the catching.  12 Strikeouts and 3 errors contributed to the loss.  

In the 2nd game of the day, Hancock defeated the Vikings 2-0 with Pelican’s only hit of the day being a single by Weston Funk, who broke up the perfect game in the 5th but was picked off first.  Pelican’s only other base runner was Alex Lynnes, who walked in the 6th.  The Vikings never threatened as they did not have a runner reach 2nd base.  Hancock got single runs in the 3rd and 5th, only one of which was earned off Weston Funk, who pitched the complete game, striking out 8, and walking none.  Once again Pelican had a hard time putting the ball in play as they struck out 15 times.  Hancock pitcher, Preston Rohloff, had the Vikings off balance most of the game, mixing in his curve ball with a good fastball and throwing strikes. 

Pelican came back from a 3-2 deficit in Saturday’s game with Silver Bay to take a 4-3 lead in the top of the 7th only to have the Mariners tie it in the bottom of the inning.  The Vikings pushed a run across in the extra inning and held on for a 5-4 win. 

Pelican finally got their bats going game in this game with 9 hits, 3 each by the Funk brothers (Reggie and Weston) and 2 by Brock Sjolie.  Damian Britton got the other Pelican hit. 

Silver Bay got on the scoreboard first with 2 in the 2nd but Pelican tied it in the 3rd on Sjolie’s 2 run double to the gap in right field.  The Mariners regained the lead on a walk, a stolen base, an error and sacrifice fly.  

Sjolie relieved Reggie Funk on the mound to start the 5th and kept the score the same 3-2 until the 7th.  Pelican rallied in the top of the 7th when they loaded the bases on one out on singles by Reggie Funk, Weston Funk and Sjolie.  Britton’s sacrifice fly scored Reggie and Weston scored on an error to give the Vikings a one run lead heading into the bottom of the inning.  The Mariners reached 3rd base with 2 outs and tied the score when a fly ball was not caught, sending the game into extra innings. 

Alex Lynnes led off the 8th with a walk but was erased at 2nd on Patrick Pechtel’s fielders choice.  Pechtel advanced to 2nd on Carson McNeal’s bunt and 3rd on Reggie Funk’s single.  Funk then stole 2nd without a throw with brother Weston at the plate.  Weston delivered a line drive single to left to score Pechtel but Reggie was caught in a rundown to end the inning.  

Once again Silver Bay mounted a threat in the bottom of the inning when a batter reached with 2 outs on an infield error but Sjolie shut down the threat with a strikeout to end the game.  Sjolie got the win, striking out 8, walking 3 and not giving up a hit in his 4 innings of work.  It was a very impressive game for Brock, especially considering he is only a freshman.  Besides his pitching performance, he hit the ball well also.  This was the best all-around game the Vikings have played so far as they cut down on the strikeouts and put the ball in play more consistently.  The Vikings are now 2-3 on the year and face Barnesville in a conference double header at home on Thursday, followed by a non-conference game at Hawley on Friday.