WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The No. 4 seed Augustana baseball team battled back to knock off No. 5 seed Central Oklahoma 4-3 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Regional. The win moves the AU win streak to 11, the longest active streak in DII. 

With the win, the Vikings (46-8) move on to play Central Missouri (48-8) for a spot in the final of Central Region Pod 1 at 6 p.m., Friday. The Bronchos (36-15) will take on Minnesota State (37-19) in the losers bracket at 2 p.m.

Caleb Saari settled in after allowing three runs in the first with seven consecutive shutout innings and seven strikeouts to move to 9-1. Ethan Cole was masterful in relief, striking out a pair while retiring the side for his third save of the season. 

Ryan Clementi and Jack Hines had two hits, a run scored and an RBI to lead the offense. Nick Banowetz had a hit, drew a walk, and stole a base while Tate Meiners had a double and was hit by a pitch. 

The Vikings fell behind in the first inning after a bases-clearing double put the Bronchos ahead 3-0. 

After a slow start offensively, AU started to let the bats cook. Banowetz gave the Vikings their first baserunner of the game with a two-out single through the left side in the third. He reached second on a steal and came around to score on an RBI single by Clementi to bring AU deficit to 3-1. 

The Vikings continued to chip away in the bottom of the fourth. Hines reached on a bunt single and Drey Dirksen walked to lead off the inning. Meiners followed it up with a double down the left field line, scoring Hines and getting within 3-2. 

After two quick outs in the seventh, the comeback kids struck again. Clementi singled to keep the inning alive and Max Mosser followed with one of his own to get runners on the corners. Clementi came in to tie the game on a breaking ball that got to the backstop and Hines delivered the final blow, flaring a single to left to bring in Mosser and give the Vikings a 4-3 lead. 

The Viking pitching staff didn't allow the Bronchos to have life in the final two innings. Saari sandwiched a fly out with a pair of comebackers that helped send UCO down in order in his final inning and Cole threw 10 of 12 pitches in the zone to retire the side to close it out.