SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana baseball team used some solid hitting at the plate en route to two wins on Wednesday against Winona State at Karras Park Home of Ronken Field. The Vikings improved to 21-12 (12-6 NSIC) on the year, while the Warriors dropped to 14-20 (12-10 NSIC) with the losses.
Augustana pushed its winning streak to six with the sweep of the two-game series against WSU.
Game One
The Vikings pulled ahead with some powerful hitting in the late innings to win game one 8-5.
Augustana finished with 10 hits in the game.
Colton Fast (5-1) picked up his team-leading fifth win of the year in a relief role, coming in for Ryne Lees, who left after suffering an apparent elbow injury early on. The senior gave up just one unearned run and had three strikeouts and only one walk.
Patrick Fiala and Marcus O'Neill each had two hits and two RBI in the win.
Jacob James also picked up two hits, his 15th multi-hit game this year at the plate.
The Vikings got their first lead of the contest with a three-run second inning. O'Neill's two-RBI single that found its way through the right side capped off the inning.
Winona State retook control of the game immediately the next time up to bat, scoring three runs of its own in the top of the third to take a one-run lead over Augustana at 4-3. The Warriors got their runs on three hits, all singles.
A three-run inning by Augustana at the plate in the bottom half of the fifth gave it a lead it never relinquished the rest of the way. Fiala's one-out double that drove in two runs highlighted the action for the Vikings.
Augustana pushed its lead to four after a Jack Goihl singled through the right side to score O'Neill from second base after reaching on a throwing error by the second basemen.
The Warriors got one run in the top of the seventh, but it wasn't enough to keep the rally going, giving the Vikings the win.
Game Two
A fast start and even stronger finish by Augustana proved too much as it took game two in convincing fashion.
The Vikings had 15 runs on 15 hits, upping their record to 17-1 this year when recording at least 10 hits in a ballgame.
Patrick O'Donnell led the way, going a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBI. O'Donnell also hit his fifth home run of the year in the game.
O'Neill tied his career high with four hits of his own, including his first homer of 2015 in the win for Augustana.
Bryce Berg added two hits and three RBI.
Jacob Blank (1-0) recorded his first collegiate victory in a relief role. Blank finished the outing going 3.1 innings, giving up three runs on two hits. The Grenta, Neb. native retired the first 10 hitters he faced on the bump.
WSU got out to a 1-0 lead in the top half of the first after Andrew Geislinger opened the game with a leadoff home run.
The Vikings immediately countered with two runs the first time they were up to bat. Alex Fink's well-struck two-RBI single to left field scored Berg and O'Neill, giving Augustana a lead it never surrendered the rest of the night.
One-run innings by the Vikings in the second, third, and fifth inning put them 5-1 just over the halfway point.
Winona State made it a one-run game in the sixth inning after scoring three runs, with Taylor Field's RBI single capping off the big inning at the plate.
But again, Augustana countered as soon as they got up to hit, scoring two runs a variety of ways to make it 7-4.
A five-run inning in the bottom of the seventh put this one away for the Vikings. The five runs came on five hits, highlighted by O'Donnell's homer to start things off.
Augustana added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the 10-run rule into play and give them the victory and the sweep.
The Vikings return to the diamond for a four-game series this weekend against Wayne State. Game one of a doubleheader is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m, which is Senior Day.
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