Box Score FT. MYERS, Fla. – The Augustana baseball team wrapped up the second leg of its spring Florida trip Sunday with a 13-0 win over Knox at Terry Park. The 22nd-ranked Vikings rapped out 16 hits and rode a combined shutout from pitchers
Chris Sauer (Rock Canyon HS, Littleton, Colo.) and
Eric Egan (Oswego East HS, Aurora, Ill.) to improve to 8-4 on the year. The Prairie Fire slipped to 3-4.
The Viking sticks gave Sauer all the support he would need in the bottom of the first. Junior
Brandon Jasper (Central HS, DeWitt, Iowa) reached on a one-out error and junior
Danny Fifer (Lincoln-Way West HS, New Lenox, Ill.) and senior
Grant Stewart (Sterling HS, Sterling, Ill.) followed with a single and walk, respectively, to load the bases. Junior
Nick Tenerelli's
(Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) infield hit scored Jasper with the game's first run and Fifer was forced in when junior
Kyle Lenihan (Romeoville HS, Romeoville, Ill.) was hit by a pitch. Sophomore
Brandon Tidaback (Coal City HS, Morris, Ill.) plated Stewart with a sacrifice fly to right and Augustana led 3-0 after one.
The Vikings broke the game open with a seven-run third. Sophomore
Trace Gingerich (Sherrard HS, Sherrard, Ill.) and senior
Jacob Van Duyne (Wilmington HS, Wilmington, Ill.) each came through with a two-run single during the frame and Fifer delivered a two-run double. The other run scored on Stewart's RBI single to left.
Van Duyne had an RBI single and scored on Jasper's sacrifice fly in a three-run Viking fourth. Sophomore
Alex Fluehr (Harlem HS, Loves Park, Ill.) scored the other run on a Knox error.
Meanwhile, Sauer cruised through six innings in his third start of the season to improve to 2-0 on the year. He allowed just a pair of Prairie Fire singles and one walk while fanning five. Egan threw a perfect seventh.
Offensively, Van Duyne was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and three driven in. Fifer and Gingerich each had two hits, two runs scored and two RBI. Stewart was 2-for-3 as well and Fluehr was 2-for-4.
The Vikings return to the Midwest, where they'll play their 2014 home opener on Wednesday, March 26 at 6:00 p.m. The Rockford Regents will be the opponent at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field. The team's home opener had originally been scheduled for March 15 against Wisconsin-Oshkosh, but was postponed due to wet field conditions.
