By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

NICKERSON – Playing a makeup game at Nickerson on Monday, the Smoky Valley baseball team put up 10 runs in the first two innings as they rolled to an 18-8 victory.

Smoky Valley jumped out early with four runs in the first, and after Nickerson pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning, the Vikings came out in the top of the second and poured six more runs across to take a commanding 10-2 lead.

Nickerson added one more run in the bottom of the second before Smoky Valley pushed a pair across in the third, four more in the fourth and two in the fifth. While Nickerson did get five more runs, they could not get close to the Vikings as they closed out the five-inning, 10-run, 18-8 win.

Braxton House was on the mound for the Vikings and though he gave up 10 hits he only gave up five earned runs due to the Vikings making three defensive errors.

As for the bats, Smoky Valley recorded 11 hits with George Moore, Trayton Miller and Nolan Moore all getting two each with Trevor Jones having credit for three runs batted in thanks to a double. House helped his work on the mound by getting a triple. Miller recorded three of the team’s nine stolen bases while Kade Blanchat scored four runs.

Viking head coach Dalton Eastep noted in a very brief post-game reflection, “The boys were aggressive and took care of business tonight.”

Next up will be a home doubleheader with Halstead on Thursday.

SMOKY VALLEY VIKINGS at Nickerson

MAKEUP GAME:     1-2-3-4-5-6-7=R-H-E

VIKINGS                     4-6-2-4-2-X-X=18-11-3

Nickerson                  2-1-2-3-0-X-X=8-10-4

VIKING PITCHING (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Braxton House 5.0-10-8-5-4-1.

VIKING HITTING (AB-R-H-RBI-BB): Trevor Jones 5-1-1-3-0; Trayton Miller 4-3-2-1-1; Kade Blanchat 3-4-1-1-2; George Moore 4-2-2-1-1; Ethan Able 2-2-1-2-2; Austin Sharp 3-0-1-1-1; Aiden Hill 2-1-0-2-2; Nolan Moore 3-2-2-2-1; Braxton House 2-2-1-1-2; Michael Hawk 0-1-0-0-0. Team Totals: 28-18-11-14-12; 2B (1): Jones – 1; 3B (1): House – 1; SB (9): Miller – 3; Blanchat – 2; Jones, House, N. Moore, G. Moore – 1; LOB – 7.

(William is a free-lance writer covering McPherson County Activities – he can be reached at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)