Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
After playing a pair of slugfests on Friday night, Augustana and Southwest Minnesota State locked up in a couple of 1-run contests as the host Mavericks edged Augustana 2-1 and 7-6 Monday night at Legion Field in Marshall, Minn.
Augustana slipped to 22-20 overall and 12-13 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while SMSU improved to 24-7 overall and 14-6 in the NSIC.
Game 1 was a complete contrast to the doubleheader the teams played Friday night in Sioux Falls. That twinbill featured 57 runs. But this game belonged to the starting pitchers – Augustana's Ezra Campbell and the Mustangs' Adam Schrader, both of whom tossed complete games.
Campbell (2-4) allowed only 3 hits in 6 innings while striking out 6 and walking just 2 while Schrader (4-1) scattered 4 hits while striking out 8 and walking 2.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when SMSU's Derick Swenson led off the inning with a double. One out later, Derek West drove in Swenson with a ground out to make the score 1-0.
The Mustangs added another run in the fifth inning when Swenson lined a 2-out single to score Matt Bauer.
Augustana cut the lead in half in the top of the sixth when Drew Heithoff singled and Tom Hill walked to open the inning. After Jeff Green sacrificed the runners to second and third, Heithoff scored on a ground out by Nate Baumann.
Heithoff led the Viking offense with 2 of the team's 4 hits and a run scored.
In the nightcap, Southwest Minnesota State grabbed an early 3-0 lead after 1 inning. Augustana's JaColby Anderson got 1 of the runs back in the second with a solo home run, but SMSU's Andrew Kinney answered in the bottom of the second with a 2-run shot to put the Mustangs ahead 5-1.
The score was 7-2 until the sixth inning when the Vikings made a late charge, scoring 4 runs in the inning to make the score 7-6. Heithoff sparked the rally with a 2-run single, while Ian Strum and Green each had RBI singles.
The Vikings had 10 hits in the game, with Strum, Anderson and Charlie Dubanoski each collecting 2 hits. Heithoff and Anderson scored 2 runs apiece while Heithoff and Strum each had 2 RBI.
Per Nestingen (1-2) suffered the loss after allowing 6 runs in 3 innings of work. Jared Pick (3-0) was the winning pitcher for SMSU.
Augustana is back in action on Wednesday when the Vikings travel to Fayette, Iowa, to face Upper Iowa in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
