Corn Dogs defeat Vikings, set to clinch regular season championship Saturday at home versus Oilmen

By Andrew Mild

The Lake County Corn Dogs beat the Southland Vikings 24-0 the last time they played at Dowling Park, and were trying to make it two in a row in Hammond on Thursday.

Check out the box score on Pointstreak.

The Corn Dogs jumped out to an early lead in the first inning after Roman Kuntz grounded out to second to drive in Bret Matthys, giving the Dogs a 1-0 lead. Southland would score a pair of runs in the third inning from a ground out and a single by Logan Anderson. The Vikings had a 2-1 lead.

Lake County didn’t hesitate to retake the lead in the fourth inning after an RBI-triple, from Scott Hansen to drive in his college teammate Donavan Noble and tie the game at 2-2. Jaden Deel singled right after and the Corn Dogs led 3-2. Deel worked his way over to third with two outs, and player of the year candidate Doug Loden picked up a hit and an RBI to give the Corn Dogs a 4-2 lead.

Hansen delivered again with a double to send Jacob Ferry across the plate. With runners on first and third, Matthys drove a ball into right field and Hansen scored. The Corn Dogs built up a 6-2 lead on the Vikings.

Lake County would score a run in innings six and nine, while Southland scratched across a run across in the sixth. The final for the game was 8-3 ,and gave the Corn Dogs 30 wins in their first  year as a franchise.

Bryce Schaum would get the win after he pitched 5.2 innings, allowing just six hits, three earned runs, and striking out eight batters. Reliever Mark Tor was the one that sunk the Vikings as the right-hander pitched 3.1 innings with no runs against him and four strikeouts. Tor was credited with the save in this appearance.

The Macron Player of the Game was third baseman Scott Hansen. Hansen had a  3-4 performance with a double and a triple. He also had two RBIs and scored three runs. Hansen is on a nine-game hitting streak and has gotten an RBI in six consecutive games.

The Lake County Corn Dogs are now 30-10 this season. The Corn Dogs magic number for a regular season championship is two. The Corn Dogs can clinch the title at home Saturday (July 3)) against the NWI Oilmen, 7 p.m. at Legacy Fields.

Purchase tickets at https://corndogsbaseball.com/tickets/.

Photo by Josh Brunette