BOX SCORE
ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Mesa State (Colo.) held off Augustana in the closing innings and picked up a 4-3 win over the Vikings Friday afternoon in the Central Region Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D. The loss eliminates Augustana from the NCAA Tournament.
Augustana finishes its season with a record of 30-24. MSC moves to 34-20.
Nolan Snell tossed 7.0 innings for the Mavericks, striking out eight and allowing just four hits. Taylor Hamilton worked the final 2.0 innings to notch his fifth save of 2011.
Ken Evanson was 2 for 3 with a pair of RBIs to pace MSC offensively.
The Vikings used four pitchers in the loss.
Casey Jacobson made his second start of the year and threw 3.0 innings. Bennet Johnson,
Zach Weinandt and
Bret Severtson also made appearances in relief. Johnson carried the bulk of the load at 4.1 innings. He also fanned three.
Nate Baumann was 3 for 4 with an RBI;
Nate Alfson also drove in one run.
Augustana left 11 on base.
The Vikings dropped in a run in the bottom of the first, getting a spark from
Drew Heithoff's lead-off bunt single. Heithoff scored two batters later after Baumann ripped a single for a 1-0 Viking lead.
A single from Ken Evanson in the second, though, scored a pair of runs for MSC and erased the early Augustana advantage.
The Mavericks pushed their lead to 3-1 in the fifth when a deep single from Greg Anderson scored a run.
The Vikings got within one in the bottom half of the frame after
Derek Hansen led off with a walk, took second on a sacrifice bunt by
Nate Hewes, advanced to third on a play to first and crossed home plate on a wild pitch by Snell.
MSC upped its lead to 4-2 in the eighth, using a pair of doubles by Jeff Popick and Brian Bello.
Augustana found itself in a no out, bases-loaded scenario in the bottom of the eighth.
Nate Alfson was hit by a pitch to score a run for the Vikings. From there, MSC would get three straight outs from a freshly entered Hamilton, who got Hansen and
Gates Cook swinging before Heithoff was thrown out on a bunt.
After holding the Mavericks scoreless in the ninth, the Vikings sputtered in their final effort as only Baumann managed to get on base in the final frame.
Augustana was making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Vikings notched their second 30-win season, marking the first time that has happened back to back at Augustana.
