Baseball champions, the Latta Vikings, will have an opportunity to defend the crown as they defeated the Lake View Wild Gators in the second game of a doubleheader played in Latta on Friday, May 13.
The Lake View Wild Gators defeated the Latta Vikings 8-7 in the game played at 4:50 p.m.
The Wild Gators connected on 11 hits while Latta got 7.
Lake View committed 2 errors, and Latta committed 4.
Lake View took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.  However, Latta picked up 4 runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-2 lead. The Vikings picked up 2 more runs in the bottom of the third and added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Lake View picked up a run in the top of the fifth to close the gap to a 4-run lead for Latta going into the last inning of the game, the seventh inning.
Lake View connected for 5 runs to knot the game at 7 off of a 2-run double by Josh Price and 3 singles by others.
The Wild Gators picked up a run in the top of the eight inning and won the game 8-7 to force a second game.
Lake View’s De’ante Bridgett connected for 3 singles and a rbi in his 4 at-bats and scored 3 runs. Brent Herlong had a single, a double, and  1 rbi  in his 4 trips-to-the-plate. Josh Price garnered a double and 3 rbi in his 4 plate appearances. C. Anderson got a double in 3 at-bats for the Wild Gators while Stone Spivey picked up a single and scored a run in his 3 at-bats. Nick Collins and Carson Rogers each connected for a single in 4 plate appearances while Weston Rogers picked up a single and 1rbi and scored 2 runs in his 4 at-bats.
The Wild Gators’ Nick Collins pitched 3 innings for the Wild Gators and allowed 1 hit and struck out 2. Weston Rogers pitched 4 innings and allowed 6 hits, walked 4, and gave up 7 runs.
Latta’s McLeod Carmichael pitched 6 innings and allowed 9 hits, 7 runs of which 4 were earned, and struck out 5. Caleb Mishue pitched 1 inning, allowed 1 earned run, 2hits, and struck out 1 and was charged with the loss.
The Vikings’ Dylan Brewer connected for a single, a double, walk, 2 rbi, and scored a run in his 4 plate appearances while Colby Lee connected for 2 doubles, a walk, 2 rbi, and scored a run in his 4 plate appearances. Jackson Williams.
In the second game of the night, The Latta Vikings picked up a 11-1 victory in 6 innings to allow them to defend their state title in the second game played Friday at Latta.
Lake View committed 6 errors and Latta committed 5 in the game.
Latta scored 2 runs in the first inning on a 2-run homer by Jackson Williams, and Lake View managed a run in the second inning before Latta’s bats came alive and delivered 5 runs in the third of which 2 runs were on a triple by Jackson Williams. The Vikings added 2 runs in the fourth and 1 in the sixth on a total of 14 hits while Lake View was held to a lone single by by Stone Spivey.
Latta’s Colby Lee pitched the entire 6 innings and allowed only 1 hit, 1 run that was not earned, struck out 10, and walked 4.
Lake View’s Carson Rogers pitched 3 innings and allowed 8 hits, 8 runs of which 7 were earned, struck out 6 and walked no one. N. Collins pitched 2 innings and allowed 4 hits, 2 earned runs, struck out 3, and walked 2 while Brent Herlong pitched 1 inning and allowed 2 hits, struck out 2, and 1 run that was not earned.
Latta’s Dylan Brewer connected for 2 singles and a double, scored 2 runs, and picked up 2 rbi in his 4 at-bats. Eric McGirt got 3 singles and scored 2 runs in his 4 trips-to-the-plate. Jonathan Ray had 2 singles, a rbi, and scored a run in his 4 at-bats for the Vikings. Caleb Mishue picked up a single in 3 at-bats while Colby Lee picked up a single in 4 plate at-bats. McLeod Carmichael garnered a single and a rbi in his 4 trips-to-the-plate. Cledus Williams managed a single and 2 waks in his 4 plate appearances. Deonte Stanley scored 3 runs and Noah Moody scored 1 run for the Vikings.
The Latta Vikings began their defense of their state title on Monday, May 16, in McBee.