Covenant News - Vikings Earn First Win at Abilene Classic

Covenant News

Vikings Earn First Win at Abilene Classic

ABILENE, TX (March 11, 2004) - Jeff Hanson of Hillside Covenant Church in Walnut Creek, California, pitched a complete game and struck out ten as North Park University (NPU) earned its first victory of the season on Wednesday, an 8-7 thriller against Friends University of Wichita, Kansas at the three-day Abilene Classic.

Coach Steve Vanden Branden's team avenged a 14-4 to Friends on Tuesday. The Vikings lost 10-5 to St. Francis University of Joliet, Illinois, on Wednesday night to fall to 1-6 overall. NPU plays three games at Texas Wesleyan University in Arlington, starting Friday, to close out its spring trip.

Nick Zayas singled and Justin Lezon was hit by a pitch to open Wednesday's game with Friends. Brandon McHugh then produced a double to score both Zayas and Lezon and eventually scored on a Steve Kottra single. NPU added two more runs in the top of the third inning but Friends tallied four in the bottom of the inning to narrow its deficit to 5-4.

The Vikings scored their final three runs in the fourth inning as Justin Conner singled, Kevin Carroll doubled and Zayas followed with a single to score both Conner and Carroll. Zayas then stole second base and came home on Lezon's single. From there, Hanson held the lead, allowing two runs in the fourth and one in the seventh but striking out the final hitter of the game.

Lezon had homered and Hanson had pitched well in the team's opening game, a 5-2 loss at the University of Dallas last Saturday, before NPU headed to Abilene for a tourney against some of the better small college teams in the Midwest and Midsouth. All of the Vikings' opponents had played at least 10 games and all but one were over .500.

Other highlights:

In a 5-1 loss to Southwestern University of Texas on Tuesday, Brett Cooper allowed only four hits in a complete game performance, but the Vikings made three errors that led to five runs. The Vikings scored their lone tally in the fourth inning on a walk to McHugh, a single by Kottra, and a ground out by Matt Ripley.
In Tuesday's loss to Friends, North Park scored three of its runs in the sixth inning as Carroll singled, and Zayas, McHugh and Kottra doubled. The Vikings scored their final run as Zayas singled in Joe Martinelli, who had also singled.
In a 21-2 loss to McMurry University of Abilene on Monday, Ripley had a run scoring single but McMurry's Josh Lee was the star player, hitting two homers.
In Monday's 9-6 loss to Lubbock Christian College of Texas, McHugh hit a homer and NPU had a 6-4 lead at one point before faltering. Peter Morris of First Covenant Church of Seattle started his first game on the mound after being injured in 2003. Morris is currently a student at North Park Theological Seminary after graduating from NPU but had one year of eligibility remaining and could play while taking Masters degree classes.

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