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.

 

Brandywine 6, Edwardsburg 4

SOUTH BEND — Brandywine held off a seventh inning rally by Edwardsburg to hold on for a 6-4 win at Four Winds Field Saturday afternoon.

The Bobcats (7-1) had built up a 6-0 lead with single runs in the first two inning and then a four-run sixth inning.

Edwardsburg rallied with four runs in the top half of the seventh, but could not get out of the early hole.

In the bottom of the sixth, Brandywine scored all four runs with two outs.

Scott Miller singled to score Hunter Janowiak, who singled to lead-off the inning. Back-to-back bases loaded walks to Austin Balos and Zach Grishaber pushed two more runs across the plate before Glenn JeRod reached base on a fielder’s choice to make it 6-0.

In the top of the seventh, Damion Pompey drew a leadoff walk and would eventually score the Eddies’ first run on a single by Zach Plummer. Mason Mitchell made it 6-2 with a two-run double before scoring on a Brandywine error.

The Bobcats were able to stop the Eddies’ rally on a fly ball.

Hits were at a premium as Brandywine’s Toby Fox and Mark Conrad combined on a six-hitter. Austin Cline, Matt Hepler and Devin Pulling allowed just four Brandywine hits.

Cole Searles and Duval both double for the Bobcats, while Mitchell doubled for the Eddies.