The opening eight notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony echoed through Valhalla with regularity Saturday. The two bars, traditionally played whenever an opponent strikes out, were heard 19 times, as Viking pitchers dominated San Mateo in WVC's 2-0 and 3-2 doubleheader wins.
In the opener, Luke Short struck out seven Bulldogs in six innings, ending the 1st, 3rd and 5th with K's. Short scattered four hits and walked three to earn the win, while Matt Atencio got the save, ending the game, appropriately, by striking out Korrey Siracusa.
The Vikings got all the runs they would need in the opening inning. Henry Wright ripped a one-out single and scored on back-to-back wild pitches. Curran Ozawa-Burns walked and then scored on a Josiah Granados single. It was all Luke Short and an error-free defense from there.
The second game marked the sixth and final game of a six-game, ten-day series between the two squads. West Valley took the opener and then fell three times to CSM entering Saturday's twin bill. After winning the opener, the Vikings were focused on a series-equalizing victory in game two.
CSM jumped out to a 1-0 2nd-inning lead on a Siracusa solo homer, but WVC answered in the home half with a Jacob Serpa solo shot. Both teams added a run in the 3rd, with West Valley's coming on an Aran Cox RBI double that scored Wright. The Vikings nearly ended the scheduled seven inning game in the bottom of the seventh as Kyle Hartmanis singled, stole second and reached third on a Zachary Apostolo single. Wright popped to short to end the threat and send the game into extra innings.
Viking starter Ryan Sleeman was huge in seven innings, striking out nine Bulldogs, walking none and giving up six hits. Granados came on in the 8th before giving way to Atencio after 1 2/3 innings of work. Atencio would be credited with the win, striking out Siracusa to end the CSM ninth. But, the Vikings still had some work to do in the home half of the frame.
Hartmanis doubled to open the bottom of the ninth, raising a cloud of chalk on a liner down the third base line. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored the winning run on another wild pitch to set off a Viking celebration behind home plate. Fittingly, in the crowd was Tyler Schrader, who had a 10th inning walkoff single to beat Chabot on March 12, 2020, the last Viking game before the pandemic erased the rest of the 2020 schedule.