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The Hounds traded paint with the Vikings all night, but after giving up three unearned runs in the 7^th inning it was the redshirts who topped the blue 10-7 Friday night beneath the forest walls of Flossmoor.

Tied 7-7 in the bottom of the 7^th, Micah Rooke and Brandon Mallder led off with back-to-back singles off DuPage reliever Nick Martin. After first baseman Brian Lees made a spectacular catch on a bunt popup from Nate Ruzich, Martin threw away a Kendall King bunt past the bag, allowing Rook to cross with the go-ahead run. Rob Cifelli’s sac fly to left and Bobby Sheppard’s double would give Southland all the insurance they needed.

Dan Wetzel completed his 1.1 scoreless relief innings to earn the win, while Anthony Spangler closed out the 9^th for the Vikings (5-5).

The Hounds (8-3) tied the game in the top of the 7^th. Less drew a two-out walk to bring up the struggling Connor Kopach. Kopach turned on his first pitch from Dan Hallberg and launched a rocket off the wall in left center and plate Lees.

Shortstop Kopach, who also started a double play in the 1^st, finished the night 2-4 at the plate, bringing his average off the Interstate and up to .205.

The Friday night affair featured four ties, three lead changes, and plenty of scoring action early. The Hounds struck first against Connor Ryan with doubles from Frankie Perone and Drew LaComb in the 1^st. LaComb later scored on Lees’s RBI single to make it 2-0. The Vikings responded with a run against Bob Kametas in the bottom of the inning, but Kametas induced the 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.

Southland came back with a pair of runs in the 3^rd, as Mallder and Ruzich plated Chris Sujka and Dan Potempa with singles. DuPage countered with three in the top of the 4^th on a Stewart Nelson base hit, wild pitch, and Clayton Johannes sacrifice bunt to make it 5-3.

The Vikings retook the lead after an explosive bottom of the 4^th. Jeff Boehm’s RBI double made it 5-4, and Potempa blasted a three-run home run over the left field fence to give Southland a 7-5 edge.

Boehm remained a thorn in the Hounds’ side, going 4-5 with a double, run, and RBI. Brian Lees turned in the Hounds’ best performance, going 3-4 with a double, RBI, and two runs.

The Hounds are now 1-2 against the Vikings in 2014 while 7-1 against the rest of the Midwest Collegiate League. DuPage now makes a visit to Joliet for a weekend set with the Admirals. Both Saturday and Sunday’s games start at 1:00 and will be streamed on dupagehounds.com.