Alec Craig scored three runs for the Vikings in their 14-5 win over Whitko Monday night. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

AKRON — Sometimes it really is about how you start, just as long as you can still finish.

The Tippecanoe Valley baseball team tallied eight runs in the opening frame and made sure to hold off a talented Whitko team to earn a 14-5 victory Monday night in Three Rivers Conference action.

“We can sit here and play ‘shoulda-coulda-woulda’ all day but if we get a couple of breaks, it’s not eight,” offered Whitko head coach Erik Hisner on Valley’s performance in the first inning. “Give Valley a lot of credit, they put the ball in play, they had a couple of two-out hits that, looking back on it, really put things away. If we get out of that with only three, or five, then it’s probably a different ball game.”

The Vikings were efficient in their opening offensive effort. With southpaw ace Eric Hammer on the mound for Valley, an eight run lead bought the Vikings plenty of insurance for the first few innings.

“I think part of it was that we had the excitement of having a few of our seniors back from the senior trip last week,” Justin Branock, Valley skipper, said. “We dropped two on Saturday and I think our guys felt that if we had our full team, that it would’ve been a different story at that tournament. And anytime Hammer or (Luke) Helton, the top of our pitching staff, is on the mound, our guys are confident that we’re going to get a win.”

Hammer dealt four innings for the Vikings. In that stretch he fanned 10 Wildcat batter and gave up just two hits. However, one of those hits was a three-run round-tripper to Garrett Smiley. The Whitko senior took Hammer deep over the left field wall in the top of the third to give his team its first presence on the scoreboard for the game. Whitko added two more runs in the fourth but Valley didn’t give much of a chance for a comeback.

The Vikings tallied one run in both the third and sixth innings and crossed four insurance runs in the fifth to keep their rival at a safe distance. Helping to fuel the big offensive outing for Valley was Alec Craig. The junior was 5-5 with three doubles, three runs scored and three RBIs. Gavin Bussard had three hits of his own and an RBI. Luke Helton was 2-4 with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Brandon Webster also had two RBIs for the home team.

“Whitko’s a good team, they’re not going to go away,” stated Branock. “It was huge for our group to get off to a big start. If we lose games it’s probably because we weren’t hitting well. We’re a fast team, a smaller team, we don’t have a lot of power in the lineup, we have to make things happen. When you don’t have base runners, it’s hard to make things happen.”

Whitko had just three hits for the game. Smiley led the team with three RBIs and a stolen base. Alex Bechtold also had a hit for the Wildcats.

Valley (6-2, 2-0) travels to Culver Military Academy Tuesday night while Whitko (6-4, 0-2) has a day off before traveling to Class 1-A No. 7 Southwood on Wednesday night.