Adekale Ande, Campus Carrier Asst. Sports Editor
There’s no “I” in “team,” but there is now one less “I” in the “Vikings” sign at Bowdoin Field. Senior Ben Jernigan damaged the sign after hitting a deep home run during Berry’s weekend matchup against Emory & Henry College this weekend.
The Vikings baseball team closed the weekend with a victory, beating the Wasps 11-6 on Sunday. The Vikings were led by senior Grant Perkins, who went 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs. Sophomore Trey Rampy got the starting nod and earned his first victory of the season, pitching four innings and striking out two batters, while only allowing three hits.
The Vikings had a rough game three against this team last year.
“We just wanted to come out and finish the drill,” junior catcher Devin Skelton said. “Game three for us last year was not the best so we just came out here focused and ready to achieve the goal.”
With this victory Berry moves to 3-0 to start off the season. Emory & Henry falls to 0-3.
Both teams totaled nine hits each in this contest. Six Vikings had hits in this game. Jernigan finished 1-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs. This was Jernigan’s second home run in three games.
The Vikings never trailed in this game. Berry cut it close in the fourth inning when Emory & Henry tied up the score 2-2, but Berry prevailed.
Sophomore John Melson pitched two shutout innings while only allowing one hit.
“I thought we had good approaches at the plate, and if you stay with your approach in baseball you’ll have several opportunities to score runs,” Head Coach David Beasley said. “We came up with big hits when we needed them and came up with big plays when we needed them.”
Beasley said he makes sure his players have the right mindset when preparing for a game.
“I talk to the guys about expectations: expect success, expect to be good, expect to make the plays, expect to make the pitches and expect to come through at the home plate,” Beasley said.
Sophomore pitcher JP Chamblee said that the rest of the season looks promising.
“The momentum is good for us,” Chamblee said. “We’ll keep rolling and see what we can do this season. We’ve got a lot of talent and we can go a long way.”