Box Score  MOLINE, Ill. – Junior Kyle Lenihan (Romeoville HS, Romeoville, Ill.) lined a double off the second base bag in the bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday, scoring senior Grant Stewart (Sterling HS, Sterling, Ill.) with the go-ahead run as Augustana came from behind for a 9-8 win over Cornell at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field. The Vikings improved to 24-10 on the year, while the Rams fell to 20-11.
 
Trailing 8-3 going to the bottom of the seventh, Augustana put three runs on the board in each of its final two at-bats to pull out the win.
 
Junior Brandon Jasper (Central HS, DeWitt, Iowa) led off the seventh with an infield hit and moved to second when junior Danny Fifer (Lincoln-Way West HS, New Lenox, Ill.) walked. The runners moved to second and third on Stewart's groundout to first. Junior Nick Tenerelli (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Jasper and Lenihan drew a base-on-balls from reliever Drew Bell. Cornell brought in Kenny Capesius out of the pen and sophomore Michael Baugh (Sherrard HS, Matherville, Ill.) greeted him with a two-run double to left center to make it 8-6 after seven.

After sophomore Zach Morgenstern (Peoria Notre Dame HS, East Peoria, Ill.) came on and retired the Rams in the top of the eighth, the Viking bats went back to work in the bottom half. Sophomore Alex Fluehr (Harlem HS, Loves Park, Ill.) drove a leadoff double to the gap in right center and senior Jacob Van Duyne (Wilmington HS, Wilmington, Ill.) reached on a bunt single. After Van Duyne was erased on a steal attempt, Jasper plated Fluehr with a sacrifice fly to center. Fifer's single to left put the tying run on and knocked Capesius from the box in favor of Tyler Riggs. After a wild pitch moved Fifer into scoring position, Stewart delivered him with a double to the wall in left center. Tenerelli was hit by a pitch and that brought Lenihan to the plate. He hit a sharp grounder up the middle which clipped the second base bag and bounced into left field, allowing Stewart to come around with the go-ahead run.
 
Morgenstern set Cornell down in order in the top of the ninth to pick up his fifth win in six decisions this year.
 
After Augustana starter Jamie Rammel (McHenry HS, McHenry, Ill.) pitched out of a jam in the top of the first, leaving the bases loaded, the Vikings took a 2-0 lead in the bottom half. Van Duyne and Jasper each singled and Fifer moved them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Stewart then lofted a long fly down the left field line, which Eric Daubach dropped, allowing both runners to score. Stewart was thrown out attempting to reach third base.
 
The first six Rams reached base in the top of the second, giving Cornell a 5-2 lead, and freshman Kyle McGinley (Mullen HS, Denver, Colo.) came on in relief of Rammel. The next three batters had hits as well before McGinley coaxed a double play grounder and a fly out to end the inning. When the frame was over, the Rams had scored seven runs on seven hits and led 7-2. Beriah Quick and Max Freilinger each had two-run singles.
 
Tenerelli scored Jasper with an RBI single in the third and Cornell added its final run in the sixth on a pair of hits and a balk.  
 
Van Duyne finished 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Jasper, Tenerelli and Fluehr each went 2-for-3. Jasper scored three times and Tenerelli knocked in a pair, as did Stewart and Baugh.
 
Coach Greg Wallace's club now plays a weekend series against Millikin with an opportunity to gain at least a share of the CCIW title. The teams are scheduled to play a single game on Friday, May 2 at 7:00 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday, May 3 at 1:00 p.m. All three contests will be played at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field.