MARSHALL, Minn. - The Augustana baseball team kicked off the final week of the regular season on Wednesday afternoon, winning 6-2 in both games over Southwest Minnesota State at Legion Field.
Records
Augustana 35-12, 28-6 NSIC
Southwest Minnesota State, 20-28, 10-26 NSIC
Game one: Augustana 6, Southwest Minnesota State 2
Kobe Eikmeier drove in three runs and had two hits while
Troy Berg (home run) and
Brandon Weigel each had two hits of their own. The Vikings had 13 hits as a team, with at least one hit from all 10 Vikings to step to the plate.
Mariano Gomez (8-0) was steady again in his final start of the regular season, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out eight in six frames.
Jadon Bast threw the seventh inning, facing just three batters and recording a strikeout to finish off the win.
In the top of the second,
Carter McPeak singled with one out before a fielder's choice saw
Ryan Clementi reach with two outs. A stolen base and Weigel single moved him to third and Eikmeier legged out a single to put the Vikings on the board.
In the third, Berg doubled the lead with a solo blast to the opposite field. The Mustangs countered in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit in half and another run in the fourth evened the score at 2-2.
That score would hold until the sixth inning. There,
Joshua Koskie drew a pinch-hit walk and reached second on a Clementi single. Weigel moved both in scoring position on a sac bunt and an Eikmeier bloop single scored both for a 4-2 lead.
Nate Soelter would bring home Eikmeier after reaching on an error and scored on a
Carter Heinsch double to bring the game to its final score.
Game two: Augustana 6, Southwest Minnesota State 2
Heinsch had three hits in game two while
Jake Lundquist had two and four RBI on a grand slam. Nine different Vikings scattered hits in game two and six different Vikings scored a run.
Bjorn Lind also had a hit and drew a pair of walks while tallying a steal.
Maddox Foss got the start, getting an out and allowing two runs on three hits.
Ryan Clementi entered from there and was dominant, allowing just a hit and two walks while striking out five in a career-high 5 2/3 innings.
Josiah Petersen (4-0) entered after a leadoff walk in the sixth, allowing just a walk and striking out three in two innings and
Jack Sutton finished it off with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Mustangs scored two runs in the first two batters of the bottom of the first inning to take an early lead. That held until the fifth when Eikmeier reached on a bunt single, moved to second on a sac bunt and scored on a Heinsch single to make it a 2-1 deficit.
The bats woke up in the eighth to give the Vikings a game-changing advantage. Soelter hit the first pitch of the inning over the left field fence to even the scoring at 2-2. Heinsch slashed a single to first base and Pinnow followed with a hit of his own. After the first out of the frame, Lind singled to load the bases and, on the second pitch he saw, Lundquist smashed a grand slam to give the Viking the lead and bring the game to its final score.
The Vikings will close the regular season with a three-game set against Minnesota Crookston this weekend, starting with a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m., on Friday.
