June 21, 2009 — The Vikings continued their winning ways atop the Raphael Jackson Double-A Baseball League on Saturday with a 9-7 victory over the upstart Cobras at the D.C. Canegata Ballpark.
Zack Prudoff gave the Vikings three strong scoreless innings on the mound before tiring a bit in the third inning. After his defense let him down a bit in the bottom of the fourth inning, committing three errors that cost some four runs, Prudoff would turn things over to Arthur Canaii in the bottom of the fifth inning of the six-inning, time-shortened contest.
The Vikings got off to a fast start with four runs in the top of the first inning off Cobras starter Carlos Nieves. They scored four runs on RBI singles by Paul Clarke, Juan Santana and Cantibol Encarnacion and an error. The Cobras failed to score in the bottom of the inning and they would not hit the board until the fourth.
Meanwhile, the Vikings, after a scoreless second inning, picked up another run in the top of the third on an RBI double off the bat of Encarnacion to extend their lead to 5-0.
After the Vikings failed to score in the top of the fourth inning, their defense tried to give the game away in the bottom of the inning, committing the three errors that allowed the Cobras to score their first four runs of the game. The score was 5-4 after four complete innings of play.
The Viking would get three of those runs back in the top of the fifth on RBI singles by Tony Cruz and Eddie Williams and a wild pitch to extend their lead to four runs at 8-4. Canaii, on in relief of Prudoff, would retire the Cobras in relatively easy fashion in the bottom of the inning.
Another RBI single by Cruz in the top of the sixth and final inning pushed the Vikings' lead to 9-4. The Cobras, coming to bat in the bottom of the inning, knew it was do-or-die time, and they made a great go at it, coming up with three runs. But it turned out to be just another case of too little, too late.
Prudoff did just enough to get the win on the mound for the Vikings, while Nieves got the loss. Top batters for the winners were Encarnacion, 2 for 3 with two RBIs, and Cruz, 2 for 4 with two RBIs. For the Cobras, Luis Frontal and Carmelo Torres both went 1 for 2.
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