UNIONVILLE — The Community Vikings twice came back from deficits with the help of some clutch hitting and went on to defeat the Grundy County Yellow Jackets 9-5 in a District 7-AA contest Tuesday night.
The win gave Community (5-5, 2-0)  a sweep of the two-game district series with the Yellow Jackets.
"We had some huge hits with runners in scoring position," Coach Robbie Davis of the Vikings said.
The Yellow Jackets drew first blood as a 2-run triple in the opening inning gave Grundy County a 2-0 lead, but the Vikings used a two-run triple from Blaine Paschal and an RBI single from James Beech to take a 3-2 lead after the first inning.
After Grundy County scored three runs in the top of the second inning to reclaim the lead at 5-3, the Vikings scored twice in the bottom of the third as a Yellow Jacket throwing error helped plate two runs as Community tied the game at 5-5.
The Vikings took the lead for good with two runs in the fifth after two were out.  After a walk to Ryan Sharp, singles by Maki Fleming and Mason Russell brought home the runs as Community went up 7-5.
The Vikings used a two-run single by Nick Evans to bring home two insurance runs in the sixth as Community upped its lead to 9-5.
"Nick Evans had the big hit with the bases loaded that broke the game open," Davis said.
The Yellow Jackets threatened in the top of the seventh as a single, walk, and Viking error brought the tying run to the plate. 
But Cody Paterick, who came on in relief after Paschal went the first four innings, struck out the side to put out the fire and give Community its fifth win in the last six games.  
Paschal and Fleming each had two hits to lead the 10-hit Viking attack.
The duo of Paschal and Paterick struck out 15 Yellow Jackets, with Paschal striking out 10 and Paterick fanning five.
"We very easily could have had a few more wins, but we try the first two weeks to move some guys around and get some young pitchers in that need the experience," Davis said. 
"Our guys know the overall record doesn't mean anything, but it's the Monday-Tuesday games that matter," Davis added.
Community will be hosting its own Viking Classic starting on Thursday.
 
Grundy Co.   230 000 0 — 5   7  2
Community   302 022 x — 9 10  3
 
Community: Blaine Paschal 2-for-2, Maki Fleming 2-for-3, Ryan Sharp 1-for-2, Mason Russell 1-for-3, James Beech 1-for-3, Nick Evans 1-for-3, Drew Harris 1-for-4, Jaxson Roberts 1-for-4. 
WP: Paterick
LP: Banks