GRIFFITH, Ind. – The Southland Vikings copied and pasted their dominant performance from last night to pummel the Griffith Generals again by a score of 10-1. The difference tonight was the return to poor defensive form for the Generals, as they tallied four errors that accounted for multiple unearned runs. The win also pushes the Vikings to a 4-3 advantage over Griffith on the season.
There were only two bright spots of the night for the Generals. On the defensive side, Rodney Lester pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, only allowing one hit and notching a strikeout. Offensively, Mark Ross pulled not one, but two rabbits out of his hat to manufacture the lone Generals run of the evening.
In the fifth inning, Ross laced a ball down the left-field line and rolled the dice on extra bases. The throw from Shemar Harris was strong, and it beat Ross to the bag, but Ross pulled out the swim move and navigated around the tag to slide in safely at second base.
Soon after, Griffith had the bases loaded with two outs. Ross saw an opportunity to spark a rally with Will Moell still pitching from the stretch. Ross took off for home and scored on a head-first slide, energizing Brian Jennings Field.
“At first I wasn’t gonna go, but it was wide open,” said Ross on the decision to swipe home. “It was a free run. He [Moell] was letting me walk down the line. Why not spark something?” The steal of home was Ross’ second on the season in three attempts.
Coach Peter Romsek praised his steal specialist on the decision, saying, “That’s Bino. He’s one of the smartest baserunners I’ve ever been around, and we just let him do his thing.”
That’s all the Generals could muster on the scoreboard, as they stranded nine more runners on base. They played into the season narrative: squandered scoring opportunities and defensive blunders.
“It’s just little mistakes that continue to bite us,” remarked Romsek after the game. “We need to understand when there’s no play to be made. I’m ok with it being an extra effort thing, but we need to know when to push and when to let the game come to us.”
The Generals will try to regroup for a 7:10 p.m. game against the Indiana Panthers tomorrow in Griffith.