Sports : Vikings come from behind to advance at Districts; to play Benton Monday

Down 3-0 after five innings, the Vinton-Shellsburg baseball team extended its season at least one more game by scoring once in the 6th inning and rallying for three runs in the 7th, when a walk-off single by catcher Aaron Henderson gave them a 4-3 win. "I'm really proud of the guys on how they continued to believe they were going to win and performed their best when it mattered most," said Coach Jim Struve. "This was a total team effort." The Vikings can advance to the Sub-State game with a win over Benton Community. The V-S/Benton winner will face either Williamsburg or Clear Creek-Amana, with the winner of that game advancing to the State Tournament July 28 at Principal Park in Des Moines, the home stadium of the Iowa Cubs AAA minor league team.
"For us to continue on this road to the State tournament, we need to get great pitching and defense, do the 'little things' well, and come up with some timely hitting," says Struve. "These kids are playing with a lot of confidence and are looking forward to the opportunity to play in the District Final."
Struve shared the following recap of the final 2 innings:
Bottom of 6th inning - 1 Run; Nathan Struve started the rally with a 2 out single followed Aaron Henderson's single and an RBI single by Tyler Rippel--- which was followed by a Scottie Wirth single to load the bases. South Tama switched pitchers and ended the inning with a strikeout.

Bottom of 7th inning - 3 Runs: Jordan Womochil lead off the inning with a bases on balls and Will Edwards was Hit by Pitch. Quinton Guenther sacrificed bunted them to 2nd & 3rd with 1 out. Wes Edwards had an RBI single to left field to cut the deficit to 1 run. Nathan Struve added a deep RBI Sacrifice Fly to right field to tie the game and move Wes Edwards to 3rd base with 2 outs. Senior Aaron Henderson stepped to plate---down 2 strikes---laced a sharp single to left for the Game Winning walk off Hit.

Tyler Rippel came in relief of starter Zach Boisen with 1 out in the 5th inning down 3-0. Tyler was credited with the Win and the Vikings did not commit any errors.

Aaron Henderson had 3 hits to go along with the Game Winning walk off RBI. Tyler Rippel and Wes Edwards recorded 2 hits apiece and each had an RBI.

See complete stats HERE.