Vikings defeat Titans in four innings

Northgate 17 Drew 2

Region 4-AAAAA baseball

Vikings' starter Matt Farmakis
pitched three innings in Wednesday afternoon's 17-2 win over the Drew Titans. He allowed a two hits and two runs (one earned) and recorded five strikeouts. 

 After a frustrating afternoon last Friday at home against the McIntosh Chiefs, the Northgate Vikings responded on Wednesday at home with a 17-2 victory over the Drew Titans in a Region 4-AAAAA contest.
The four-inning victory improves the Vikings overall record to 8-4 on the season and 5-2 in the region as they travel to Jonesboro Thursday afternoon to face the Mt. Zion Bulldogs in a game that was originally scheduled for this past Monday but was postponed due to the inclement weather in the area.
After starting pitcher Matt Farmakis breezed through the top of the first inning, the Vikings gave him a lead in the bottom of the frame as James Poropatic led off with a single, moved to second on a groundout and went to third on a wild pitch before coming home a single to center by Tyler Dahlberg.
Dahlberg moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double down the third base line by Chase Allen to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead.
After Jordan Schmits reached on a walk, Titans' starter Mason Williams appeared to be getting out of a potential mess as he retired Jeffrey Ginn on a strikeout.
However, a ground ball hit to the Drew shortstop by Andrew Burden was misplayed and the bottom began to fall on Williams as Allen came home for a run.
Walks to Jonathan Hamilton and Buddy Green scoreed Schmits and after Poropatic was hit by a pitch, Burden scored to give the Vikings a 5-0 lead.
A wild pitch scored courtesy runner Zach Schmits and a throwing error by the catcher allowed Green to score.
An RBI double by Armond Upshaw and an RBI single by Dahlberg completed the first inning scoring by the Vikings who were shutout by Williams in the bottom of the second innind despite allowing a double to Ginn.
Williams was not as fortunate in the bottom of the third inning as Poropatic reached on a one out walk, stole second on came home on a triple by Upshaw who came when a ground ball hit to second by Dahlberg was misplayed and the lead was 11-2.
A single and a force play followed then Ginn collected an RBI double and an error in the outfield allowed Schmits and Ginn to score and give the home team a 14-2 lead.
Ginn was one of five players for Northgate who had two hits in the game. The others were Poropatic, Upshaw, Dahlberg and Allen.
After a solid three-inning perfoamnce that saw him allow two hits and two runs (one earned) along with five strikeouts, Farmakis was relieved on the mound by Robert Massenburg who was pitching for the first time in a week.
The rust showed as Massenburg walked Brandon Pearson who was erased on an unusual force play in which DeMarcus Reed hit a line drive off the pitcher's side and the ball was retrieved by third baseman Chase Allen who threw to Dahlberg at second for the out.
Massenburg was not hurt as he walked Antonio Gamble before forcing him at second and ending the inning with a strikeout of Tracy Gaston.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Vikings head coach Greg Hamilton unloaded his bench as four players pinch-hit in the frame.
Hamilton led off with a single and after a popfly to third, Poropatic doubled and Zach Schmits advanced to third before both came home courtesy of a single to right field by Connor Wilson.
After a popfly on the infield, an infield error was followed by a single from the bat of Blake Whitney that allowed Wilson to come home with the final run of the game.