SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Augustana baseball team kept the good times rolling at Ronken Field, winning 9-4 over Sioux Falls on Thursday afternoon.
With the victory, the Vikings will advance to the final of the winner's bracket, taking on Minnesota State at noon at Sioux Falls Stadium.
Records
Augustana 39-13
Sioux Falls 26-25
In what could be the final game played at Ronken Field in 2026, The Vikings closed out in style. Their 24-2 home record finishes as the best in program history by win percentage, topping a 28-3 mark in 2022.
Kobe Eikmeier went 4 for 5 with two runs scored and 3 RBI while finishing a triple short of the cycle.
Carter Heinsch added three hits while
Ragan Pinnow and
Troy Berg (two RBI) had two hits and two runs scored each.
Drew Ball struck out seven and allowed just a hit in 3 2/3 innings of work but walked five, hit a pair and allowed a run.
Ryan Clementi was steady, entering in the fourth and retiring all seven batters he faced to move to 3-0 on the season.
Myles Hanson opened the seventh inning, allowing three runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out one of his two outs.
Jadon Bast finished the game on the mound for AU, throwing 2 1/3 of scoreless ball with a pair of strikeouts for his second save of the season.
Brandon Weigel led off the bottom of the first with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a one-out
Carter Heinsch double to open the scoring.
Ragan Pinnow wore a pitch and then moved to second while Heinsch scored on a
Troy Berg single.
Kobe Eikmeier followed with a double to the wall in left center to bring in Pinnow and Berg scored on an infield single from
Jake Lundquist. Bjorn capped the first-inning scoring with a sac bunt to bring in Eikmeier and give AU an early 5-0 advantage.
After putting together threats in a pair of innings, the Cougars finally got on the board in the top of the fourth inning. Their run was quickly erased as
Nate Soelter went yard in the bottom of the inning to grow the lead to 6-1.
The runs kept coming in the fifth inning, starting with a solo blast off the bat of Berg and another one from Eikmeier two pitches later to make it 8-1 AU. That would hold until the seventh inning when the Cougars struck for three to get within 8-4. Eikmeier would record an RBI single in the eighth inning to bring the game to its final score.
