Alyssa Burk pitched a gem yesterday, striking out 10 batters in a 4-0 win for Portland State. The Northern Colorado batters had a night to think about how to hit Burk, but it wouldn't help. The senior came out and pitched a nearly flawless game again on Saturday to clinch the series win for the Vikings.

Burk threw another complete game, this time striking out 11 batters and allowing just two hits. The Bears put a runner on base just twice, one on a normally-routine fly ball that was lost in the sun and the other with two outs in the final inning. The dominant performance brought Burk's totals on the weekend to 23 strikeouts and 0 runs allowed. She also gave up just five hits and didn't walk a single batter. She now has six career games with at least 10 strikeouts.

"Alyssa did phenomenal for us in the circle," head coach Meadow McWhorter said. "It's a true testament to the quality of pitcher that she is, facing them for seven innings yesterday and then being able to come back and two-hit them today and increase her strikeout count."

Burk established control right away, striking out the first two batters and retiring the Bears in order in the first. The Vikings then got a leadoff single from Darian Lindsey and a base hit from Kaela Morrow later in the inning, but stranded two runners.

The Bears' first hit came in the second inning, a high fly ball into left field that was lost in the sun and fell in for a base hit. It didn't faze Burk, who struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

Portland State's offense continued to produce base runners, but the Vikings stranded two in the second and one in the third inning against Valerie Vidal. But they never stopped battling at the plate and in the fourth they finally broke through.

Tayler Gunesch led off with a double into left center and moved to third on a single from Alexis Morrison. Then Marissa Bruno, who had made solid contact all weekend, delivered home the first run on a sacrifice fly to deep center field.

Riley Casper walked in the next at bat and Lindsey poked one down the right field line to load the bases. After a fielder's choice cut down the lead runner, Sala Pedebone stepped to the plate with bases loaded and two outs.

She delivered in a lengthy at bat, knocking it right up the middle for a two-RBI single that gave the Vikings a 3-0 lead.

The Vikings had the lead, but the momentum quickly threatened to change in the top of the fifth inning. Natalie Joyner, who had five hits so far in the series including a home run on Friday, ripped a ball into deep left field.

Jessica Flanagan tracked it back, braced herself against the fence and timed her jump perfectly to rob a home run and keep the Bears scoreless. Burk then struck out the next two batters, giving the Vikings all of the momentum late.

"I'm so proud of Jessica for making that momentum changing catch out there," McWhorter said. "Marissa Bruno at the plate was also huge for us today, she had quality at bats every single time. And then Sala doing such a good job going deep into a count and battling and battling until she finally got a pitch that she wanted to bring in those two runs."

The Vikings would record just one more hit the rest of the way, but Burk dominated throughout and kept the Bears scoreless for the win. Portland State takes two out of three from Northern Colorado, but after leading for 20 of the 21 total innings the weekend will surely be slightly bittersweet.

A late comeback by Northern Colorado in the first game on Friday soured the series, but McWhorter loved the response that her team showed in the next two games.

"One of our focuses this week in practice was finding grit and being a gritty team," McWhorter said. "I am very proud of them on how they responded to game one. That was a sucker punch in the stomach to us, to lose that game late when we had full control, but to able to bounce back really shows how gritty they are. I'm so proud of them for having their backs against the wall and coming out swinging."

Seven different Vikings combined for nine total hits on Saturday. Morrison went 2-for-3 at the plate while Lindsey finished 2-for-4. Pedebone finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs and Bruno went 1-for-2 with an RBI as well.

On the weekend Alexis Morrison hit .571 (4-for-7) with two RBIs to lead the Vikings. Bruno finished 4-for-8 (.500), but made solid contact on nearly every plate appearance and was unlucky not to have more base hits. Lindsey led the team with three RBIs in the series, two of which came off a Friday home run.