Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 MOLINE, Ill. – An offense that produced 28 runs and 35 hits in just 12 1/3 innings on Saturday, May 3 helped Augustana win its first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin baseball title in 40 years. The Vikings last stood atop the CCIW standings in 1974 but at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field on a sun-splashed day, head coach Greg Wallace's team broke out the lumber and hoisted the hardware at the end of the day.
 
Augustana had 21 hits in a 16-6 victory in game one that ended after 6 1/3 innings because of the 10-run rule. The second game also ended early after Millikin batted in the top of the seventh and the Vikings held a 12-2 advantage.
 
Wallace's bunch won the title outright with a 15-6 league record and are currently 27-10 overall heading into a non-conference home game against Cornell on Monday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m. The Vikings will now host the CCIW tournament at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field beginning on Thursday, May 8. Times and pairings will be announced at a later date.
 
Two sophomore pitchers picked up the wins for Augustana on Saturday, which squeaked out a 5-4 victory over the Big Blue on Friday night in the opening game of the three game series. Chris Sauer (Rock Canyon HS, Littleton, Colo.) worked six innings in game one to pick up his sixth win against one loss. Walter White (East Peoria HS, East Peoria, Ill.) went the distance (seven innings) in game two and struck out six while moving to 6-0 on the year.
 
Fittingly, it was three players who were honored in a "Senior Day" presentation before the game who figured prominently in the offensive fireworks. Senior centerfielder Jacob Van Duyne (Wilmington HS, Wilmington, Ill.) was six for nine on the day with five runs scored and three runs-batted in. Senior first baseman Grant Stewart (Sterling HS, Sterling, Ill.) was four for seven with three runs scored and seven RBI.
 
Junior catcher Nick Tenerelli (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.), who is leaving Augustana after this season to go to the University of Illinois on the three-two engineering program, also got into the act. He was five for eight with three runs scored and five RBI. The other senior on the Viking roster is back-up first baseman John Crook (Boulder HS, Boulder, Colo.) and he had a single in the first game.
 
AUGUSTANA 16, MILLIKIN 6
 
The Vikings pounded out 21 hits in just 6 1/3 innings in a mercy-rule shortened opener. Seniors Jacob Van Duyne (Wilmington HS, Wilmington, Ill.) and Grant Stewart (Sterling HS, Sterling, Ill.) and juniors Nick Tenerelli (Downers Grove South HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) and Brandon Jasper (Central HS, DeWitt, Iowa) each had three hits, while juniors Kyle Lenihan (Romeoville HS, Romeoville, Ill.) and Jacques Camalick (Hinsdale Central HS, Burr Ridge, Ill.) and sophomores Trace Gingerich (Sherrard HS, Sherrard, Ill.) and Alex Fluehr (Harlem HS, Loves Park, Ill.) had two apiece. Ironically, the only Augustana starter to go without a hit was junior Danny Fifer (Lincoln-Way West HS, New Lenox, Ill.), the team's leading hitter on the year, although he scored a run and drove in another.
 
After Millikin touched Viking starter Chris Sauer (Rock Canyon HS, Littleton, Colo.) for a pair of runs in the top of the first, the Augustana offense responded with a half-dozen runs in the bottom half. An error, a Jasper single and a Fifer sacrifice brought Stewart to the plate and he recorded the first of his six RBI in the game with a groundout to short. Tenerelli followed with an RBI infield hit to tie the game at 2-2. After a walk to Lenihan, Camalick lined a two-run double down the right field line to put the hosts on top 4-2. Gingerich delivered an RBI double and Fluehr a run-scoring single before the inning was over.
 
The Vikings added a run in the second and then three more in the third on Stewart's base-clearing double to center.
 
Millikin cut it to 10-5 with three off Sauer in the top of the fifth, but the sophomore's teammates got those right back in the bottom of the frame. Jasper led off with a walk and scored on a Stewart single to center. Camalick came through with a two-run single to center as well. Tenerelli and Stewart had RBI singles in the sixth to give the Vikings a 15-5 lead.
 
Freshman Kyle McGinley (Mullen HS, Denver, Colo.) came out of the pen in the seventh and the Big Blue got to him for a run, but Van Duyne's RBI single in the bottom of the inning plated sophomore Jordan Grubb (Schaumburg HS, Schaumburg, Ill.) to give Augustana a 10-run lead and the win. Grubb was running for John Crook (Boulder HS, Boulder, Colo.), who had come off the bench to celebrate Senior Day with an infield hit.
 
Sauer picked up his team-best sixth win against just one loss this season.  In addition to Stewart's six RBI, Camalick knocked in four. Jasper scored four times.
 
AUGUSTANA 12, MILLIKIN 2
 
After White held Millikin scoreless in the first inning, the Augustana offense went to work and immediately put seven runs on the board in the bottom of the frame. Seven hits and two Millikin errors were enough for the Vikings to grab a 7-0 lead.
 
Van Duyne led things off with a single to center and he scored the first run of the inning (and the game) on a single by Fifer. Fittingly, his sacrifice fly in his second at-bat of the inning closed out the scoring as the Vikings sent 11 men to the plate. Tenerelli and Fluehr each had two RBI in the frame.
 
The Viking offense put one run up in the second, three in the third and one in the fifth as Augustana banged out 14 hits against four Millikin pitchers. Van Duyne and Fifer each had three hits while Tenerelli and Fluehr had two each. Eight of the nine position players for the Vikings had base hits in the game.
 
White gave up nine hits but was never in any real trouble thanks to the early offensive burst supplied by his teammates.