AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- The Vikings baseball team continued on their Florida road trip Friday morning, taking down the St. Norbert Green Knights thanks to a late-inning, 3-run home run off the bat of Justin Swanson. That marks the third deep shot of the road trip for the Vikings' offensive catalyst, matching his season total from last year.
Tyler Banks got the starting nod for North Park, but early trouble ensued in the top of the 3rd after a careless defensive sequence turned a St. Norbert single into a 3-run, error-induced round tripper for the Green Knights' Caden Uhlenbrauck. Banks would face two more batters before a call to the pen for Jaedon Bader, who entered with no outs and runners on first and second. The left-handed Bader managed to squeeze his way out of the jam, forcing a rare 4-6-5 double play followed by a comebacker on the ground for a 1-3 putout.
Bader would go on to pitch the next two innings, exiting with a final line of 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K, and 1 ER. At the time of his departure from the mound, the North Park offense was still in search of their first run. That would soon change in the top of the 6thafter a squeeze bunt from Alex DiVito scored Joseph Perona, advancing Rylan Kawakami to third base. Carlos Martinez followed that up with a single to then drive in Kawakami. Small ball kept working out for North Park, with Reece Arakaki and Justin Swanson stringing together two more base hits to bring Martinez across the plate and put the Vikings in a workable 3-5 hole heading into the bottom half of the inning.
Julian Ledezma took over for Bader and promptly twirled two scoreless innings, bringing the top of the Vikings' order back to the plate in the 8th. Singles by DiVito and Arakaki brought Swanson up to bat with two outs, and with the game on the line, the junior second basemen sent a shot beyond the left-center fence to earn the Vikings a 6-5 lead—their first of the game. Ledezma then shut the door over the last two innings, allowing 0 hits and marking down his first win of the season.
Ledezma finished with a final line of 4.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 Ks, and 0 ER as he and Bader combined for a strong bullpen outing that allowed just 6 baserunners and 1 run over 7.0 innings. Swanson's big day at the plate saw him go 3-5 with a career-high 4 RBI and the go-ahead 3-run homer to spark North Park's victory. Joining him with 3 hits was Reece Arakaki as the only other Viking to record a multi-hit game. Of note, each of NPU's six runs were scored by six separate batters.
What's Next?
The road trip continues tomorrow morning when the Vikings face off with the Keystone College Giants, with first pitch set for 9:15 EST. That will mark the end of North Park's spring trip, as the Vikings head back home for a March 21st matchup with the University of Chicago.
