ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Augustana baseball (37-17) was eliminated from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Baseball Tournament after falling to Minnesota Duluth (39-13) 20-10 Saturday afternoon.

The Vikings fell into a hole early against the Bulldogs after a single and a walk put runners on the corners for Jimmy Heck who then hit a three run home run over the right field fence. Then in the third the Bulldogs second three run home run gave the Vikings a 6-0 deficit.

 
Augustana's top half of the order came up to the plate in the bottom of the third and gave the Vikings the boost they needed. After Justin Warne walked and Patrick O'Donnell hit a triple scoring Warne to get the Vikings on the board. After Alex Fink drew a walk Patrick Fiala hit a three run home run of his own to get the Vikings within two runs of UMD.
 
Alex Beals followed up the Fiala home run with a single and then got to third after back-to-back walks to Lucas Barry and TJ Davis. After Tyler Field was hit by a pitch that  scored Beals, Warne hugged the left field line and snuck in a single that scored both Davis and Barry and giving the Vikings a 7-6 lead after three innings.
 
Minnesota Duluth reclaimed the lead in the fourth after their third, three run home run of the game. The Bulldogs scored another run in the inning to take a 10-7 lead.
 
After the Bulldogs scored 10 runs over the final five innings to take a 20-7 lead, Kris Ashland pinch hit for Beals and crushed a three run home run to right field to make the score 20-10. The Vikings were unable to score in the bottom of the ninth and fell to UMD 20-10.
 
Pitchers of Record
Win - Alex Ferguson (2-2): 5 IP. 2 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Loss - Tyler Vaughn (0-1): 3.1 IP, 6 hits, 8 runs, 7 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts
 
Vikings Notables
• Augustana went 2-2 in the NSIC Tournament with wins over Northern State and Minnesota State
• They scored seven of their runs in the third inning
• The Vikings had two, three run home runs in the game
• The game lasted nearly four hours
• The Vikings 10 runs came on 12 hits
• Augustana left eight runners on base
• Lucas Wilber hit his fifth double of the season
• O'Donnell hit his fourth triple of the year
• Fiala hit his 12th home run of the season
• Ashland hit his third home run of the year
 
Up Next
After being eliminated from the NSIC Baseball Tournament the Vikings will have to wait till the NCAA Selection Show to find out their fate in the Central Regional. The NCAA Division II Baseball Selection show will air via webcast at NCAA.com on Sunday, May 15 at 9 p.m. central time.
 
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