ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The Augustana baseball team (13-4 overall, 6-2 NSIC) split their day and the series against St. Cloud State (10-8, 6-2) on Friday afternoon at Joe Faber Field.

Game One: No. 19 Augustana 6, St. Cloud State 1
Drey Dirksen, Jack Hines, and Jason Axelberg each recorded hits to help the Vikings win an ugly ballgame. AU hitters walked eight times and reached twice via HBP's, as opposed to four free passes from the Huskies. 

Ethan Cole earned the win, allowing five hits and striking out six in six innings of work. The lefty forced five flyouts and six groundouts and allowed a .133 opponents batting average with runners on base. 

Dirksen got the Vikings on the board first, mashing a double to the opposite field to bring in Ryan Clementi in the first inning. From there, AU got to watch a lot of pitches, recording a HBP and three walks to score two more runs and give the Vikings a 3-0 lead. 

After the Huskies scored a run in the bottom of the first, Hines erased it in the third with a leadoff home run to put the Vikings in front 4-1. 

The scoring halted until the seventh inning when the Vikings took advantage of a two-out error off the bat of Sam Siegel. Ragan Pinnow and Jason Axelberg were each able to score on the sloppy play from the Husky defense to tack on insurance. 

Will Henry was summoned from the bullpen to finish the game out. Henry struck out the leadoff hitter and threw a scoreless frame to secure the win. 

Game Two: St. Cloud State 11, No. 19 Augustana 10
Hines hit two more home runs in the second game of the doubleheader while going 3 for 4 with three runs scored and five RBI to keep his hot streak to start the season rolling. Axelberg went 2 for 4 with a stolen base, an RBI and a run scored, and Joe Kolbeck added a pair of hits including a double.

After going down 2-0 into the second inning, the offense exploded. Hines hit a leadoff solo home run to put the Vikings on the board. Luke Ballweg followed with a double and then Parker Mooney and Pinnow each reached on walks to load the bases. 

Ballweg scored on a passed ball to even the scoring and Joe Kolbeck walked to reload the bases. Max Mosser walked to bring a run in, and then Axelberg was hit on the very next pitch to score another. 

Dirksen kept the station-to-station baserunning when he reached on an error, and Hines blew the game open with a grand slam, his second home run of the inning, to give the Vikings a 9-2 lead. 

The Huskies went on to score five in the fourth and three in the fifth to take a 10-9 lead. Kolbeck delivered a two-out single to score Hines and tie the game at 10-10 in the seventh. SCSU went on to win via walk-off in the ninth. 

The Vikings return to Ronken Field on March 22 to start a four-game set against Minnesota Duluth.