SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The No. 16 Augustana baseball team completed another conference sweep, defeating St. Cloud State 16-5 to move to 18-5 on the season and 12-0 in the NSIC while the Huskies fell to 11-13, 7-4.
Carter Heinsch had three hits and walked twice while
Carter McPeak added three hits of his own to lead the offense.
Nate Soelter scored three times and had three hits as the Vikings had 19 hits as a team.
Joel Van De Stroet allowed just two hits in four scoreless frames while striking out four and earning a no-decision.
Maddox Foss allowed a run and got two outs before
Will Henry went 1 1/3 hitless frames while picking up a strikeout and moving to 2-1 on the year.
Jack Sutton got a pair of outs and
Will Simmons got an out and allowed a pair of runs to get the staff to the eighth inning. Drew ball would get a pair of outs and allow two more runs before
Adam Diedrich recorded the final four outs for his 22nd career save, moving to second all-time in program history.
The Vikings struck quick as
Brandon Weigel hit a leadoff single and Heinsch drove him in with a double to make it 1-0. The Huskies led the bottom of the inning off with back-to-back hits but Van De Stroet dialed in, striking out two and forcing a groundout to escape the frame without allowing a run.
Bjorn Lind opened the second inning with a single before an error put
Ryan Clementi on with him. Soelter reached on a bunt single and the ball would get thrown away, allowing Lind to score and double the AU advantage.
Kobe Eikmeier followed with a sac fly and Weigel added a sac bunt to give the Vikings a 4-1 lead.
In the fourth, Soelter reached with a one out single before moving to second on a groundout. He got to third on a wild pitch and then came around to score on a Heinsch single to make it 5-0.
The Vikings would hold a 5-1 lead into the eighth. Eikmeier started that inning with a single before Weigel got hit by a pitch and Heinsch singled to load the bases. On a full count,
Troy Berg was able to execute a sac bunt for the first run, a
Cal Schmelzle sac fly followed and then McPeak added an RBI single to make it 8-1 Vikings. SCSU countered with four in the bottom of the inning to round out their scoring before another Viking offensive explosion closed the game.
In the ninth inning, The Vikings loaded the bases before a Heinsch check-swing double scored two and a Berg single scored two more to make it 12-5.
Cole Goeser hot a two-run double off the base of the centerfield wall,
Ryan Clementi had an RBI single and
Nate Soelter had an RBI groundout to bring the game to its final score.
The Vikings continue their home stretch on Tuesday, hosting Sioux Falls for a single-game nonconference matchup at Ronken Field at 4 p.m.
