MANKATO, Minn. - The No. 14 Augustana baseball team got back to its winning ways, knocking off Minnesota State 3-0 on Monday afternoon at Bowyer Field.

The win moves the Vikings to 36-8 overall and 27-6 in the NSIC while the Mavericks fall to 30-15, 25-9. AU now leads MSU by 2.5 games for the NSIC regular season title with five games to go. 

Max Mosser had the lone Viking hit while the offense drew six walks and two hit by pitches to provide enough offensive production. He also drew two walks while Tate Meiners reached on a walk and an HBP. 

In his first start since April 13, Caleb Saari (6-1) dominated. The senior threw 8+ innings, allowing seven hits and striking out nine to earn the win. Ethan Cole was just as dominant in relief, striking out all three batters he faced for the save. 

The Vikings opened the scoring in the third inning, starting with a Sam Siegel walk and Nick Banowetz HBP. A Hines fielder's choice got runners on the corners and Siegel was able to cross the plate on a wild pitch with two outs to give AU a 1-0 advantage. 

A bunch of free bases helped the Vikings scrape across another run in the fourth. Meiners, Max Mosser, and Jason Axelberg loaded the bases off of one-out walks. Siegel got involved with the scoring again, this time drawing a walk on full count to double the AU lead to 2-0. 

Mosser singled to center to lead off the sixth inning and provide a little offense. He later advanced to second on a wild pitch, third on a groundout, and scored when Siegel earned a sac fly and reached on an error to left to close out the scoring. 

The Mavericks strung together their best threat in the ninth inning, knocking around a pair of singles off Saari to lead off the bottom of the inning. Enter Cole, who racked up strikeouts in a 1-2 count and a pair of 2-2 counts to give the Vikings the victory. 

Augustana will be back in action Wednesday afternoon with a doubleheader at Northern State. First pitch for game one is set for 2:30 p.m.