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BOX SCORE 2 SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Augustana tallied its 10th straight win behind four home runs on the day as they swept Southwest Minnesota State in a neutral site doubleheader. The Vikings took down SMSU 5-2 in game one and won a shootout 9-5 in the second leg. Augustana improves their record to 25-8 (15-4 NSIC) and the Mustangs drop to 14-16, 7-11 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference competition.
Game One
Jenelle Trautmann earned her 22nd win of the season and
Carley Pickett tallied her second save in as many attempts coming on in the seventh inning. Trautmann and
Emily Heinz led the offense with two hits apiece and Kempf's fifth-inning homer gave her a team-high two runs batted in.
Chelsey Rodenkirch racked up half of the Mustang hits with three in the series opener and Rachel Hoeppner would be saddled with the loss.
Augustana scored in four straight innings, pushing across one run in each of the second, third, and fourth innings.
Carly Peterson gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead with her RBI single and Trautmann doubled that lead to 2-0 with a single of her own in the third.
SMSU responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, led by Rodenkirch's RBI double. The Vikings quickly answered when Peterson doubled and was driven home on
Jenny Brown's sacrifice fly.
Kempf then gave the Vikings a lead they would not surrender with a 2-1 blast down the left-field line to score
Cassandra Kranz who was on to pinch run.
Pickett faced some adversity in the bottom of the seventh compounded by an error, but she escaped unscathed to protect Augustana's 5-2 win over Southwest Minnesota State.
Game Two
Augustana hit three home runs and withstood several SMSU comeback attempts to take game two 9-5 and complete the doubleheader sweep. Four Vikings tallied two RBI each and three different Vikings hit a home run.
Pickett evened her record on the season with the win in the circle, bringing her 2013 season mark to 3-3.
Jenelle Trautmann moved one closer to tying the season home run record which she co-owns with
Theresa McMahon when she hit her 17th homer of the season in the first inning.
McMahon started off the scoring by singling and scoring on a
Lindsay Spanton single. Spanton was then forced in when Trautmann went deep to left centerfield. Augustana's lead was cut to 3-1 when SMSU answered in the bottom of the first.
After a scoreless second, the Vikings tacked on two more from a
Chelsi Winskowski triple. A four -run cushion seemed enough and Pickett replaced Trautmann who had started both games for Augustana.
The Mustangs jumped on the freshman pitcher quickly with two run in the bottom of the third, but Pickett stood tall and kept the game in favor of the Vikings at 5-3.
The Vikings continued to terrorize the SMSU pitching staff when Spanton sparked a three-hit spree from the Vikings to net them three more runs in the fourth inning. Spanton hit a solo home run to center field and Trautmann followed with a base knock of her own. Freshman
Emily Heinz hit her fourth home run of the year to cap off the three-run inning.
Once again, the Mustangs would respond, scoring two in the bottom half, but that was the final time an SMSU player would cross the plate. Augustana tacked on one more when Kempf doubled to open the seventh and scored on a wild pitch after being sacrificed to third, giving Augustana its 10th straight win with a 9-5 victory over Southwest Minnesota State.
The Vikings are scheduled to meet on the diamond this weekend in Minnesota with doubleheaders against Minnesota State on Saturday, April 20 and at Concordia-St. Paul on Sunday April 21.
