MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran baseball team Friday afternoon took on Northland in UMAC action and came away with a pair of wins. The Vikings, now 7-7 on the year and 5-0 in the conference, defeated Northland 12-2 in game one before a 6-1 win in game two. 

Bethany 12 - 2 Northland (8 innings)

Gavin Jacobsen got the start on the mound and after a 1-2-3 top of the first would get some support from the Vikings lineup in the bottom half. Bethany would use a pair of Northland errors as well as at-bats from Aidan Russell and Andrew Imgarten that each plated two runs to take an early 4-0 lead. 

After a few scoreless frames, the Vikings would once again get the scoring going in the third. Russell would reach base on a base hit and come around to score on some crafty baserunning, before an RBI single later in the inning from Imgarten followed shortly after by a Malachi Santiago 2-RBI single made the score 8-0 after three innings. 

Northland got their first runs of the game in the fourth, as a dropped fly ball would allow two runs to score to make the score 8-2. 

Bethany would get their runs back and more in the fifth, as Santiago would notch an RBI double before Seth Jones would bring home a pair with a two-out single to bring the tally to 11-2 after five. 

After a few scoreless frames, Bethany would finally push the game-winning run across in the eighth, as Connor Jones would walk before eventually being moved into scoring position and coming around to score on a Santiago single to give the Vikings the 10-run rule at 12-2. 

Santiago and Seth Jones led the Vikings in game one with three hits apiece with Santiago also driving in four runs, while Russell and Josh Robb each added a pair of hits. 

Jacobsen went 6 2/3 innings and allowed no earned runs while striking out seven to pick up the win, while Ty Vollmar pitched 1 1/3 innings of no-hit ball in relief. 

Bethany 6 - 1 Northland 

The Viking bats seemed to be keeping their momentum from game one in the early innings of game two, as they would use a pair of Northland errors followed by a 2-RBI single from Nolan Spence to take the early 2-0 lead. Liam Peterson would then place a ball deep enough in the outfield to record a sac fly to bring home one more and make the score 3-0. 

Bethany kept up their momentum in the second innings, as Santiago and Robb would reach to start the inning before coming around to score on a Seth Jones single. After Jones would steal second and third, a Spence sac fly would make the score 6-0. 

Northland would get one back in the top of the third, as a Bethany error allowed runners to move up an extra base before a sac fly brought the runner from third home to cut the deficit to 6-1. 

From there on out it was the Drew Hedtke show. The sophomore, who started on the bump for the Vikings, went the distance and allowed zero earned runs while striking out 11 and scattering five hits to earn the win. He would work out of a few jams late, inducing ground ball double plays in the sixth, eighth, and ninth innings to claim the win. 

Bethany had seven hits in game two with Seth Jones notching a pair and driving in two runs, while Spence drove in three runs for the Vikings. 

The two teams will meet up again tomorrow for the final contest of the series beginning at 1 p.m.