SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana baseball team swept UMary Tuesday to move to 9-1 in NSIC action. The Vikings took game one 4-2 while sliding past the Marauders in game two, 8-7.
 
Carter Howell tallied a two homer day while Caleb Saari dominated on the mound for a complete-game victory. With the wins, Augustana is now 19-4-1 on the season while UMary falls to 9-13 overall and 1-6 within the NSIC. 
 
Game One: Augustana 4, UMary 2
After UMary squeaked a pair of runs across the plate in the opening inning, Caleb Saari shut down the Marauders for six-straight innings to earn his second win of the season on the mound.
 
The offense came in a pile-up of a fourth inning for AU with back-to-back-to-back home runs.
 
After Carter Howell singled up the middle, Will Olson hit a towering home run into the trees of right field. The following batter, Drey Dirksen, hit a home run into right-center field. The third-straight batter and third-straight home run came from the bat of Tony Lanier. The game's designated hitter, and game two starting pitcher, hit a home run that landed near Lake Street over the right-field fence after clearing the scoreboard.
 
The three home runs accounted for all the runs scored in the game as Saari continued to cruise through the Marauder lineup for the complete-game victory. He did not allow a single base runner following the third inning and his lone walk was an intentional walk. He struck out a career-high 10 batters.
 
Of Augustana's eight hits, Olson and Jack Hines each totaled two, while the other four came from Howell, Dirksen, Lanier and Jason Axelberg.
 
Game Two: Augustana 8, UMary 7
In a back-and-forth affair, it was the bottom of the eighth inning that saw Augustana take the lead for good. Tied at 7-7, Jack Hines worked himself a walk and moved to second and third bases via wild pitches. He then scored on a Maddox Baggs single through the left side for the go-ahead run to push AU to its eighth-straight win.
 
To get there, we got back to the opening frame where Carter Howell started the contest off with a three-run home run. Augustana then opened a 5-0 advantage in the bottom of the second as Will Olson pounded a single into left-center field scoring Howell and Max Mosser.
 
The Marauders began to chip away at the lead as Derek Shoen hit the first of three home runs for a 5-2 score in the fourth inning. However, Howell extended the lead by one as he hit his second home run of the game, connecting with the long ball over the left-center fence.
 
UMary then ran off five-unanswered runs, including a pair of home runs from Shoen, to take a 7-6 lead in the seventh inning.
 
Augustana answered back in the bottom half, working a run thanks to a ball lifted by Howell into left field, then a dropped tag by the UMary defense to allow Mosser to score from second.
 
Then set up the go-ahead run by Hines before Adam Diedrich came on for the final inning and set down UMary in order including a strikeout to end the game.
 
Howell tallied four RBI for AU in the second game on his two hits, both home runs. In all, Augustana tallied seven hits.
 
The win on the mound went to Evan Furst, his first of the year, after throwing 1.1 innings.
 
Up Next
Augustana is on the road for the first time in NSIC action with a three-game series at Minnesota Crookston. Games one and two are Saturday while Sunday will be the finale.
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