LocalSportsJournal.com

LUDINGTON — It was a lot tougher game than the final score would seem to indicate, as Whitehall stayed with Ludington throughout before the Orioles prevailed, 5-1 at Oriole Field on Monday night.  

The Orioles extended their winning streak to four straight, improving their record to 10-1-1 overall and 4-0 in the West Michigan Conference.  

Whitehall saw its modest two-game winning streak snapped, dropping the Vikings record to 3-3-1 overall and 2-1-1 in the conference.  

Parker Wendt and Spencer Holmes each scored two goals for the Orioles, while Reinhold Heinrich found the back of the net for the other.  

Yebe Boerema and Wendt each contributed two assists for the Orioles.  

Ludington scored its first goal with about 23 minutes left in the first half to grab a 1-0 lead.  

But the Vikings answered as Jack McDowell scored off a Corbin VanderStelt assuage in the 15th minute to tie it up, but gave too many opportunities for Ludington and they took advantage.

And then Andon Palmer had 11 saves with a great effort. The Vikings are now 3-3-2 overall and 2-1-1 in conference.  

The Orioles got two more in before the end of the first half to go into the break with a 3-1 lead.  

“Their keeper played strong for them this evening,” Orioles head coach Kris Anderson said. “He really kept them in the game, and made it difficult for us to capitalize on some opportunities.  

“Defensively, they did something differently tonight than we had seen all season. They really dropped a lot of guys back. There were some instances where we’re trying to create opportunities inside the 18 there were almost 10 guys back in there defensively.  

“They really clogged things up, and plugged all the spaces that we were trying to look for, and we pass balls through and run through. It took us a little while to figure out ‘Okay, how are we going to break this down when they put that many bodies back there defensively?'”  

But, the Orioles eventually solved the puzzle and scored two goals in the last 10 minutes of the first half, and scored their last two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half.  

The Orioles had 21 shots on goal for the game, while limiting the Vikings to just four. Ludington keeper Connor Rudzki had three saves.  

Ludington next plays Manistee at home Wednesday night in a battle of conference unbeatens as the Chippewas also come in with a 4-0 mark in the WMC.  

Whitehall is at Montague on Wednesday.