PICTURED: Brent Kessinger
In their third game of the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida Monday the North Park Vikings dropped a closely contested 4-2 decision to Plymouth State.
The Vikings scored a run in the first when David Scholz turned a leadoff single to right-center into a hustle double. He moved to third on a wild pitch and raced home on a popup to second off the bat of Caleb Layden. After starting with two scoreless innings, Viking hurler Brent Kessinger was victimized by two unearned runs in the bottom of the third. North Park minimized the damage when Kessinger picked off one runner and Cam Adams threw out another trying to steal.
The two teams were held scoreless through six innings. The Vikings threatened in the top of the seventh when Jake Woolsey was hit by a pitch and Scholz reached on an error, but Layden grounded out to end the inning. The Panthers added two runs in the bottom of the seventh on two hits off Kessinger, followed by a sacrifice bunt and another single against reliever Jimmy Park. The Vikings managed one more tally in the eighth on a double by James DeGeorge and a single by Adams, but two Plymouth State relievers retired the remaining North Park batsmen to preserve the victory. Ryan Perro (1-1) was credited with the win for the Panthers while Kessinger (0-2) was tagged with the loss.
The Vikings (2-7) have a JV game scheduled for Wednesday and their next varsity content on Thursday against Lasell College.
