The baseball team (11–4) ended their regular season on a high note, defeating two-time reigning state champion the Sherwood Warriors (18–2) 4–3 on Monday night.

The Vikings had their work cut out for them as they hosted the Warriors for their third night game of the season. Whitman students eagerly packed the yard for the most significant showing from the Vikings student section this season, and they got their money’s worth. 

With the bases loaded in the top of the first, senior Holy Cross commit Lion Gardiner immediately saw trouble. Gardiner got Sherwood’s Mac Crismond to induce a double play ball, which limited the scoring to one run. Gardiner pitched two innings, allowing three hits and one run while striking out two. Sophomore Wells Twining relived Gardiner in the top of the third and had no trouble facing the heart of Sherwood’s lineup.

Whitman’s bats were quiet early on, as they only registered one hit through four innings. Sherwood extended their lead when they scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the fifth. However, Sherwood was able to extend Whitman’s deficit by three. 

The Vikes were starting to get desperate, and as the crowd got loud, so did the bats. Whitman scored one run in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore Sammy Berman walked with the bases loaded, but the following inning was when it started to get wild. Senior Liam Bowen blasted a two-run moonshot over the outfield wall, tying the game at three a piece. Fans went wild as the probability of beating Sherwood started to settle in.

Sophomore Sammy Berman took the mound in the top of the eighth, trying to keep the game tied. He did just that – retiring all three batters he faced, giving Whitman a considerable opportunity to walk it off in extras. In the bottom of the frame, the Vikes continued their dominance as junior Gideon Schwartz signaled, Berman walked and senior Ben Schlossman hit a towering fly ball, letting Schwartz move an extra 90 feet to third base. Sophomore Sammy Angel came to the plate with two runners in scoring position, looking to win the game for the Vikes, but Sherwood threw a wild pitch, letting Schwartz advance 90 feet, winning the game for the Vikes. 

“I think this was a great momentum for going into playoffs,” Bowen said. “In that last at-bat, I was just looking for something up in the zone that I could do damage with.”

Sammy Berman won for the Vikings, surrendering zero hits over two innings. Senior Corey Levin, sophomore Wells Twining, and junior Jacob Goldman contributed to the pitching effort. The Warriors hadn’t registered a loss since April 13th against Blake, their defeat against Whitman on home turf raising the morale going into the playoffs. The Vikings will start their road to the States when their postseason starts this Thursday.