Lake View’s Wild Gators hosted the Latta Vikings on Monday night in a battle of local and regional rivals, with the Vikings taking a 6-5 win in the eighth inning to advance in the Class A Lower State baseball playoffs.

Latta’s first three batters all flew out to lead off the first inning, but Lake View’s Weston Rogers and Josh Price both singled in the bottom of the inning to reach. Rogers advanced on a passed ball and and Price advanced on an error, and Luc Newell reached on an error to allow Rogers to score. Justin Elliott hit a sacrifice fly to left to pick up Price and give the Gators a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

In the top of the second, Latta’s Donell Stanley walked to lead off the inning, but John Kever Love hit into a double play that put out both runners. Christian Hendrix then flew out to end the inning with the Vikings still trailing. Both of Lake View’s batters struck out in the bottom of the second, and the third flew out to end the inning quickly. Latta also went three up, three out in the top of the third to continue trailing 2-0.

Lake View’s Carson Rogers led off the bottom of the third with a walk, and Weston Rogers tripped to bring him in. Price singled to score Weston, and advanced on errors and passed balls to score. Herlong walked and reached second on an error, but Roger Scott struck out to end the inning with Lake View up 5-0.

Latta’s Josh Bowen flew out to lead off the top of the fourth inning, but Travis Power reached on a walk. Jackson Williams hit a fly ball for the second out, but Stanley singled to advance Power to third base, where he scored on a passed ball. Stanley reached second on an error and Love was intentionally walked, but Hendrix flew out to end the inning for the Vikings with Latta trailing 5-1. Lake View’s Hunter Stevens struck out in the bottom of the inning, and both Duane Nichols and Carson Rogers were put out to end the inning.

Eric McGirt led off the fifth with a single for Latta, and Colby Lee walked to put runners on first and second. Avery Berry was put out but advanced the runners to second and third, and Bowen singled to score both. Power followed with a single, and both runners advanced on a groundout from Williams. Stanley received an intent walk to load the bases, and Love singled to pick up Bowen and Power. Hendrix struck out to end the inning with two runners on base and a tied score of 5-5.

Weston Rogers walked in the bottom of the fifth and advanced to second on passed ball, but Price flew out and the next two batters struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the sixth, the first two Viking batters both struck out, but Berry singled to reach and advanced to third on a single from Bowen. Power was hit by pitch to load the bases, but Williams was put out to end the threat. Brent Herlong singled for Lake View in the bottom of the sixth, but was tagged out on the way to second. Scott and Stevens both struck out to end the inning with the score still knotted at 5-5.

With two outs in the seventh, Hendrix walked for Latta, but the Vikings couldn’t get anything else going. Nichols walked in the bottom of the inning, but was put out on the way to second. With two outs, Weston Rogers singled and Josh Price walked, but Newell struck out to send the game into extra innings.

Latta’s Lee flew out to open the eighth, but Berry reached on an error and advanced as Bowen was put out. With two outs, Power singled to score Berry and give the Vikings the lead at 6-5. All three Lake View batters struck out in the bottom of the inning to allow the Vikings to retain the win.

On the mound for Latta, Hendrix pitched six innings and faced 23 batters for three hits, one run, and four walks, striking out 11. Love pitched two innings for the Vikings for three hits, four runs, two earned runs, one walk, and three outs.

On the mound for Lake View, Carson Rogers pitched 4.3 innings and faced 19 batters for three hits, four runs, three earned runs, four walks, and one out. Price pitched 3.6 innings and faced 20 batters for five hits, two runs, one earned runs, two walks, and four outs.

At bat for the Vikings, Josh Bowen went 2-for-5 with two RBI and one run scored; Travis Power went 2-for-3 with one RBI, one walk, and two runs scored; John Kever Love went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one walk; Donell Stanley went 1-for-2 with two walks; Eric McGirt went 1-for-4 with one run; Avery Berry went 1-for-4 with one run; Colby Lee scored one run on a walk; and Christian Hendrix reached on a walk. Latta had six hits and two errors in the win.

At bat for Lake View, Weston Rogers went 3-for-3 with a triple, one RBI, a walk, and two runs scored; Josh Price went 2-for-3 with one RBI, one walk, and two runs; Brent Herlong went 1-for-3 with a walk; Carson Rogers scored one run on a walk; Justin Elliott picked up one RBI on a sacrifice fly; and Duane Nichols reached on a walk.

Latta improved to 21-3 while Lake View slipped to 15-6.

Lake View was scheduled to host Johnsonville on Wednesday night in an elimination match. The Flashes fell 6-2 to Lake View in the first round of the lower state playoffs but defeated East Clarendon 4-1 on Monday to stay alive in the elimination bracket. The winner of Wednesday’s game will advance to the championship.

With the win on Monday, Latta advanced to the Class A Lower State championship on Friday and will host the winner of the Lake View/Johnsonville game.

Photos by Mark King/THE DILLON HERALD. Click the images below to view at full size!