The Latta Vikings took a close 5-4 loss from high-ranking Johnsonville on Thursday, but shut out Hemingway 20-0 on Friday in varsity baseball action.
In a battle of two closely matched teams, the Vikings fell to Johnsonville by just one run as the Flashes capitalized on errors from Latta. Both teams were recently ranked among the top five Class A teams in South Carolina by the S.C. Baseball Coaches Association, with Johnsonville ranked just above Latta.
Latta led 4-2 until the top of the sixth when Johnsonville scored two runs to tie things up. Johnsonville’s Lukas Daniel got to base on a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice fly before advancing to third on an error from Latta’s Avery Berry at third base. Daniel scored the game winning run when Berry committed his second error of the inning. Latta had a total of four errors in the game.
Johnsonville’s Ethan Stone got the win, allowing four runs, one earned run, seven hits, and one walk, striking out three.
Colin Barnhill led the Flashes at bat with two hits, and Zac Phillips scored two runs with two stolen bases.
River Owens and Travis Power each had two hits for Latta, with Owens picking up two RBIs and Power scoring two runs. John Kever Love also had an RBI single.
On Friday, the Vikings were back in form to take down the Hemingway Tigers 20-0 in five innings at Hemingway.
Latta scored four runs in the top of the first to take the lead, then added 10 in the second and six in the third to wrap up the game.
The Vikings had 12 hits and no errors, while Hemingway made just one hit with four errors.
Kyle Arrington picked up the win for Latta, pitching all five innings for just one hit and one walk, striking out five.
Hemingway’s Eaddy took the loss, pitching two and a third innings for nine hits, 14 runs, 10 earned runs, and seven walks, striking out one.
Dylan Anderson led Latta at bat, going 2-for-4 with a double and Johnnie Wright went 2-for-3.
Latta’s record improves to 8-2 overall and 5-1 in Region 8A.
The Vikings were scheduled to travel to Mullins on Monday and will be back at home tonight to take on Lake View at 5:30 p.m.
Next week the Vikings will be out on Spring Break, but will be in tournament action on April 2 and 3 in Cheraw.
