PITTSBURG, Kan. - The Augustana baseball team wasn't ready for its season to be over quite yet.
The No. 17 Vikings finished an incredible run through Central Region 1, knocking off host and No. 3-ranked Pittsburg State for the second consecutive day, this time a 13-7 win on Sunday afternoon at Al Ortolani Field. They advance to the super regional, where they will face Central Missouri in a best-of-three starting Thursday for a spot in the DII College World Series.
Brandon Weigel was the guy offensively, going 5 for 6 with three runs scored, three RBI, three doubles, a home run and finished just a triple short of the cycle.
Troy Berg added three hits while
Jake Lundquist and
Kobe Eikmeier each had two hits.
Joel Van De Stroet gutted out five innings, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out a pair.
Jack Sutton walked all three batters he faced and allowed a pair of runs.
Mariano Gomez entered with the bases full and nobody out and showed grit, striking out six over 3 1/3 innings while allowing just a run.
Cal Schmelzle came in with one out in the ninth, retiring two of the three batters he faced to seal the deal.
Van De Stroet sent the Gorillas down in order and the Vikings scored in the bottom of the inning.
Kobe Eikmeier drew a four-pitch walk with two outs and stole second before coming in on a
Troy Berg single to make it 1-0.
Bjorn Lind doubled the lead in the second with an RBI groundout to score
Jake Lundquist.
Brandon Weigel led off the third inning with a solo blast to tack on another run. The Gorillas got their first run of the game in the fourth before a three-run home run off the bat of Soelter put the Vikings ahead 6-1.
The Gorillas scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning without having a ball leave the infield to get within 6-4. Lundquist led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and
Ragan Pinnow added a single to threaten again. They would both reach scoring position after a Heinsch groundout, Lind delivered an RBI single and
Maddox Foss lifted a sac fly to grow the lead back to 8-4.
Pressure continued on the Viking arms as the Gorillas scored two runs in the sixth and loaded the bases. Gomez buckled down, getting a strikeout to end the frame and then closed the seventh with another strikeout to leave the bases loaded once more and keep the Vikings ahead.
An offensive onslaught followed the emotional frame from Gomez. After three walks and a strikeout loaded the bases with one away, Weigel welcomed a fresh arm with a ground rule double to score a pair. Soelter added a sac fly and Eikmeier delivered the dagger, a two-run blast to the moon. The Gorillas scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to round out the scoring and stranded the bases loaded one more time in the ninth to cap the victory.
