SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The No. 11 Augustana baseball team (16-1, 5-1 NSIC) swept the Thursday afternoon doubleheader against Minnesota Crookston (10-11, 0-6 NSIC) behind solid Viking pitching. The Vikings took game one at Karras Park, 5-4, and shutout out the Golden Eagles in game two, 6-0. Augustana struck out a combined 24 Golden Eagles between the two games.

GAME ONE: Augustana 5, Minnesota Crookston 4
Augustana was down early to Minnesota Crookston, but would score five unanswered runs and hang on to defeat the Golden Eagles 5-4.

In the first inning, Vikings starter Jacob Blank would surrender two hits, capped off by a two-run home run from Reed Hjelle to give the Golden Eagles an early 2-0 lead. Those two hits would be the only hits Blank would allow until the sixth inning.

The Vikings would get on the board in the third inning on a Riley Johnson solo home run. Johnson's homer was his first of his career. The Vikings would take the lead in the fourth inning with a trio of runs. Sam Baier would score on a Jordan Barth fielder's choice and Barth would come around to score on a Ryan Menssen RBI single. Ryan Nickel would score the final run on a Golden Eagle error. Augustana would add another run in the fifth on a Barth RBI single.

The Golden Eagles would pull within one and chase Blank on a two-run home run by Ethan Mushitz in the sixth. Michael Brandt would come in a shut Minnesota Crookston down in the last 1.2 innings to pick up his third save of the season.

Blank moved to 4-0 on the season after pitch 5.1 innings allowing four runs on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. Offensively, Nickel was the only Viking with a multi-hit game (two-for-three) and Barth collected a pair of RBI.

GAME TWO: Augustana 6, Minnesota Crookston 0
Augustana took game two against the Golden Eagles by a score of 6-0 and behind a stellar pitching performance from senior David Flattery.

Flattery moved to 3-1 on the season after going eight shutout innings, allowing only one hit and three walks and a team high 13 strikeouts. Flattery's 13 strikeouts a single rank tied for fifth in school history and his six strikeouts looking rank in a tie for fifth as well.

The Vikings got the scoring started in game two with a four run first inning. Riley Johnson and Michael Svozil reached on errors to begin the inning and two batters later Ryan Nickel would load the bases with two outs. Trent Herman blasted a grand slam to right field for his first home run of the season to give the Vikings a 4-0 lead.

The Vikings would tack on another run in the fifth and seventh. In the fifth Svozil scored after reaching on a Minnesota Crookston error and in the seventh we would triple and score on a balk.

Zach Reeg would strikeout the side in the ninth to conclude the game. Flattery and Reeg combined for 16 strikeouts. The Vikings offense was led by Herman with his grand slam and Svozil's two-hit, three runs-scored performances.
The Vikings and Golden Eagles will conclude their series tomorrow with a doubleheader at Karras Park beginning at 1 p.m.