Vikings stretch win streak to eight with sweep of Minnesota Duluth

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BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 OMAHA, Neb. – Jenelle Trautmann smashed two home runs and earned pair of wins in the circle as Augustana (23-8, 10-4 NSIC) swept Minnesota Duluth (29-9, 9-3 NSIC) in a neutral-site doubleheader on Saturday. The Vikings beat the Bulldogs 6-5 in eight innings to open the day and shut out UMD 3-0 in the second leg.

Game One
Chelsi Winskowski hit her second home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game and Augustana scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to defeat Minnesota Duluth 6-5.

After surrendering two runs in the top of the seventh, Augustana was in a 3-1 hole, but Winskowski tied the game up with one swing of the bat. The senior centerfielder launched the 2-1 pitch over the center field fence to score herself and Erin Kempf who walked to lead off the inning. This was Winskowski's second home run in as many games.

Minnesota Duluth responded with a two-run home run to left field to retake the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Jenelle Trautmann didn't want to tally her sixth loss of the year and instead hit her 15th home run of the year, squeezing it just inside the right field foul pole, to pull the Vikings within one at 5-4.

Kempf then singled and Winskowski was hit by a pitch to put the tying and go-ahead runners on for the Vikings with one out in the bottom of the eighth. Carly Peterson reached on an error with two outs to load the bases bringing up Theresa McMahon.

McMahon hit a dribbler to the UMD pitcher who threw the ball in the dirt and passed the first baseman allowing Kempf and Winskowski to score the tying and winning runs.

Trautmann tallied her 20th win of the year in the circle improving to 20-5 and racking up 11 strikeouts while Julia Nealer suffered just her third loss of the year and has a 18-3 record as the UMD ace.

Trautmann had two of Augustana's four hits who took advantage of miscues by the Bulldogs, scoring two unearned runs to win the game. Kempf and Winskowski each recorded the other hits for the Vikings and also scored two runs apiece.

Game Two
Trautmann collected her second win of the day while hitting her 16th home run of the season, also the second of the day, and Augustana beat Minnesota Duluth 3-0 to complete the sweep. Trautmann secured two runs batted in on her shot to center field in the third inning to lead the Vikings.

Trautmann dazzled in the circle as she scattered four hits over six innings of work and Carley Pickett earned her first career save with her shutout performance in the seventh inning. The freshman tandem of Carly Peterson and Emily Heinz led the way with a pair of hits each and Peterson tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning with her base knock up the middle.

After two scoreless innings, Trautmann opened the game where she left off, taking the first pitch of her second at bat over the center field fence to plate a couple of runs – Lindsay Spanton singled up the middle with two outs to keep the inning alive and scored on Trautmann's blast.

Through five innings of work, Trautmann had only surrendered two hits and allowed just one runner to reach by way of a walk. Stellar defense also helped Trautmann's shutout bid. Brittany Coufal stabbed a few blistering ground balls to open the second inning and finished with a team-high six assists playing the hot corner. Heinz also turned in a great effort with four assists at shortstop.

Peterson's insurance run proved unnecessary with Pickett putting the Bulldogs away in the top of the seventh, but the freshman outfielder now owns a team-best .389 batting average with 21 hits and seven RBI.

Augustana will continue their neutral-site conference weekend with a doubleheader against St. Cloud State scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

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