On Tuesday, May 10, Evergreen baseball got a look at their future on the mound when sophomore Brady Kanneman fired a one-hitter at Cardinal Stritch in an 11-0 win.
Three days later, Kanneman’s classmate Hunter Vaculik fired a two-hit shutout, walking two and striking out 15 in a 10-0 whitewash of Hilltop.
Raace Haynes nearly traded Vaculik pitch for pitch for four innings, giving up just two Evergreen hits while Vaculik was throwing a no-no into the sixth.
However, the Viking bats woke up in the fifth.
Three straight hits from Kanneman, Isaac Overfield and Payton Boucher plated one run, then a hit batter and error brought in another and left the bases full.
Ashton Sayers lined a bases-clearing double to right-center to give the Vikes a 5-0 lead.
Overfield’s run-scoring triple into the right-center gap, Zack Laver’s single, another RBI hit from Landen Vance and finally a game-ending base hit from Kanneman gave the Vikings the magic 10-run difference.
Evergreen followed that win with one the next day against Sylvania Southview, knocking off the Cougars, 7-3.
RJ Shunck got the Vikings rolling in the first with a two-out, two-run single for a 2-0 lead.
After Southview went up 3-2, the Vikings created chaos on the bases as pinch-runner Evan Lumbrezer forced a throwing error on a ball that rather than being a double play, led to a pair of unearned runs to put Evergreen up for good.
Overfield and Kanneman each had a run-scoring single to pad the lead in the fifth.
Vance and Shunck allowed just four hits, no walks and struck out 10 Cougars splitting the seven innings.
Evergreen, now 15-7 on the year, hosts Swanton Tuesday at Simon Field in the opening round of the Division III sectional.
