Two days after their 10-10 tie, Valencia and Hart staged another wild one, and this time the Foothill League rival edged the Vikings 15-14 in a back-and-forth slugfest that came down to the final at-bat.

Valencia raced out front. Justin Gaisford drove in two with a single in a five-run second that made it 7-2, and the Vikings still led 9-6 in the fifth behind Gaisford's solo homer and a string of timely hits. Gaisford was enormous all day, finishing 3-for-4 with the home run and five RBI.

But Hart's bats kept coming. The Hawks answered with a four-run fifth, capped by Hayden Rhodes's three-run homer, to grab the lead, and after Valencia retied it at 10-10, Hart pushed across five in the sixth, on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, Josh Whitson's three-run double, and a Jaiden Chan single, to lead 15-10. Whitson (3-for-5, two doubles, 4 RBI) and Matix Frithsmith (4-for-5) did the damage.

Down five, Valencia would not fold. The Vikings loaded up in the seventh and scored four, Cole DeYoung, Jack Yamamura, and Santino Cascione (a two-run single) all delivering, to pull within 15-14 and bring the tying run to the plate. But a fly out ended it. Valencia out-hit nobody to blame: 15 hits and 14 runs simply met a Hart team that had 16 and 15. A heartbreaker, but a gutsy answer in the seventh against the rival.