By Andrew Mild
The Lake County Corn Dogs have returned to the win column. After losing two heartbreakers on the road, the Corn Dogs returned home and blew out the Southland Vikings on Friday.
Check out our box score on Pointstreak
Lake County had 11 hits versus the NWI Oilmen on Thursday, matching that tally against the Vikings. But this time the Corn Dogs added some slugging with five extra-base hits. One of those hits came in the bottom of the first when Tyler Schultz sent the ball off the center field wall, bringing Cal Curiel jogging to home plate to tie the game 1-1. The Corn Dogs went on to score seven unanswered runs through the second and third inning.
In the third, the Corn Dogs had five runs on five hits. The Macron Player of the Game, Donovan Nanfeldt, had a two-RBI single into right center. Nanfeldt ended up picking up four RBIs in the win.
The Vikings slowly chipped away in the fourth and fifth, making the score at 8-4. In the seventh inning, the Vikings catcher and cleanup hitter John Crowell blasted a ball over the left field wall for the first home run in Vikings history, putting his team within three runs.
The Corn Dogs broke open the game in the seventh after an error allowed two runs to score. Bret Matthys then hit a triple into right center to cap off that big inning to put his team up 12-5.
Both teams would score once more until a comebacker to pitcher Jacob Bosse and a flip to first ended the game. The final: Corn Dogs 13, Vikings 6.
With the win the Corn Dogs snap a two-game losing and move to 9-3, remaining atop the Northern League standings.
The Corn Dogs are in Whiting Saturday night against the Oilmen, and return home for their first matchup against the Chicago American Giants at 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Photo by Josh Brunette