NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Portland State split a pair of games to open the TSU Tiger Classic Friday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn. The Vikings opened the day with a 5-4 comeback win over host Tennessee State before falling 2-1 as North Alabama walked-off with the win. 
 
Portland State came out a bit flat to start the first game of the day against Tennessee State. Katie Schroeder gave up an uncharacteristic three runs in the bottom of the first before allowing another run in the bottom of the second as the Vikings quickly found themselves down 4-0. 
 
The Vikings picked up a run in the top of the third to begin to cut into the deficit. Alexis Morrison drew a five-pitch walk to lead off the inning. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Riley Casper, which flipped the lineup back to the top of the order for Darian Lindsey. Lindsey, who extended her hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff double in the first, drove in Morrison from second on a single through the right side to make it a 4-1 game. 
 
Two innings later, the Vikings plated another run to make it a 4-2 Tennessee State lead. Jessica Flanagan led off the inning with a single through the left side. She moved to second on a groundout before moving to third on a single my Morrison. Two batters later, Lindsey worked a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Marissa Bruno. Bruno drove in Flanagan from third on an infield single to the shortstop. Unfortunately, that would be all the Vikings would get as they left the bases loaded. 
 
After allowing four runs over the first two innings, Schroeder settled in for the Vikings. She worked around a leadoff single in the third before throwing a perfect eight-pitch fourth inning. She then worked around a one-out error by the Vikings to throw her third-straight scoreless inning to keep the game at 4-2. 
 
Rachel Menlove led off the sixth for the Vikings by reaching on an error by the Tigers' pitcher. She moved to second on an infield single from Alexxis Ponce. Flanagan dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position for Sala Pedebone. 
 
After falling behind early in the at bat, Pedebone worked the count even at 2-2 before she blasted her first career home run to center field to give the Vikings a 5-4 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth. It was Pedebone's first career home run and the fifth by a Viking over the last four games. 
 
The one-run lead was all that Schroeder needed. She threw a perfect sixth inning, which included a pair of strike outs, before closing out the game with a perfect seventh. She closed out her fourth win of the season by retiring the final eight batters she faced. She allowed four earned on eight hits, walked one, and striking out a PSU career-high five batters. She is 4-3 on the season and winner of her last three. 
 
Lindsey picked up her eighth multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-3 with a double and a run batted in. Pedebone finished 1-for-3 with three RBIs on her first home run of the year. The Vikings as a team, hit .500 (4-for-8) with runners in scoring position for the game. 
 
Lindsey extended her hitting streak to 15 games with a leadoff singled to center to start game two against North Alabama. She moved around to third base but was unable to score in the top of the first. 
 
The game quickly became a pitching duel and remained scoreless into the top of the fourth. Kaela Morrow walked to lead off the inning before being moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Menlove. Pedebone, the hero of game one, came through again in the clutch with a double down the left field line to bring in Morrow for the game's first run. 
 
Alyssa Burk got the call for the Vikings in game two. She worked around a pair of runners in scoring position in the first and another one in the third. North Alabama had runners in scoring position in four of the first five innings but Burk was able to keep the scoreboard clean with several timely strikeouts. In fact, she recorded strikeouts to end four-straight innings. 
 
After pitching a clean frame in the sixth, the game moved to the seventh with the Vikings needing just three outs to secure the win. The Lions had other ideas. A leadoff walk and a bunt single put two runners on. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Unfortunately for Burk and the Vikings, the next batter took the first pitch she saw and doubled in both runners to give North Alabama the walk-off 2-1 victory. 
 
Burk was tabbed with the loss despite only giving up two earned runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings. She walked three and struck out a season-high six batters. 
 
The Viking bats struggled against North Alabama, going just 4-for-24 for the game with nine strikeouts. 
 
The Vikings will play two more Saturday morning at the TSU Tiger Classic. They open the day against Marist at 10 a.m. CT before playing East Tennessee State at 12 p.m. CT.