SOUTH BEND — Hot bats carried the Niles baseball team to an ugly 13-7 win over Shaker Heights (Ohio) at Four Winds Field Friday.

What made the victory ugly was six errors by the Vikings, which led to six unearned runs for the Raiders.

“I looked up at the scoreboard at one point and we had four hits and five errors,” Niles baseball coach Mike Vota said. “It’s not the way we want to play. We’ll get better defensively. That’s something we know we’ve got to work on.”

The Vikings finished with 14 hits with lead-off batter Bryce Lake leading the way with four hits and five RBIs. Drew Huffman and Austin Curran each added three hits and two RBIs.

Niles scored six runs on six hits in the third inning to take a 9-5 lead. In the inning, Jakob Huffman hit a two-run single, Curran had an RBI triple, while Lake and Glick each collected an RBI double and Drew Huffman cracked an RBI single.

The Vikings broke the game open by scoring three runs in the seventh inning to take a 13-7 lead. Lake’s two-run single highlighted that inning.

“We swung the bats well and ran well and the pitcher’s threw strikes and did everything they needed to do,” Vota said.

Niles starting pitcher Jake Hamm and Lake in relief combined to allow one earned run, eight hits and strike out five. The Vikings also stole five bases.

NILES 13, SHAKER HEIGHTS 7

At Four Winds Field

Niles                120     601     3 – 13 14 6

Shaker Hts.     302     101     0 – 7 8 2

Jake Hamm (W), Bryce Lake (5) and Tayton Stevens; Will Edgerton (L), Chris Strmisha (4), Braden Meyerhoefer (7) and Wyatt Eisen.

2B: Lake (N), Cody Glick (N).

3B: Austin Curran (N).

Varsity records: Shaker Heights 2-4, Niles 4-1.