Box Score

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Senior Brandon Jasper (Central HS, DeWitt, Iowa) went 4-for-4 and junior southpaw Chris Sauer (Rock Canyon HS, Littleton, Colo.) fanned a dozen in six innings Saturday as Augustana won its seventh straight game, 7-5 over Hiram. Coach Greg Wallace's club improves to 10-3 on the season. The Terriers drop to 3-7.
 
Each team plated a pair of runs in the first. Hiram took advantage after Sauer hit Jaren Bell to start the game. Bell eventually scored on a Viking error and Trevor Foster drove in another run with a single to center. Jasper led off the bottom half with a single and later scored on a Terrier throwing error.  Junior JohnSwiderski (Geneva HS, Geneva, Ill.) drove in Nathan Gray (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) with an RBI grounder to tie it. Gray had singled and stole second.
 
The Vikings gave Sauer some breathing room with four in the second. Freshman Tommy Kiriakopoulos (Huntley HS, Lake in the Hills, Ill.) singled to right center to get things started. One out later, junior Alex Fluehr (Harlem HS, Loves Park, Ill.) beat out a bunt single and Jasper followed with a walk to load the bases. Gray's infield single plated Kiriakopoulos with the go-ahead run and senior Danny Fifer (Lincoln-Way West HS, New Lenox, Ill.) made it 5-2 with a two-run single to center. Junior Trace Gingerich (Sherrard HS, Sherrard, Ill.) capped the inning with an RBI single to left.
 
Bell's RBI single in the fourth drew Hiram to within 6-3, but senior Kyle Lenihan (Romeoville HS, Romeoville, Ill.) drove in a run in the bottom half to give Sauer his four-run cushion back.
 
Hiram pushed across another run in the fifth, but Sauer fanned Ryan Fedor to end the inning and leave two runners stranded. He retired the Terriers in order in the sixth before leaving in favor of Nick Refka (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.). The sophomore right-hander went the final three innings, allowing just one hit and one run while fanning a pair to earn his first save.
 
Sauer got the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. He struck out 12 without walking a batter. He scattered seven hits and two of the four runs he allowed were unearned.
 
Jasper, Augustana's leading hitter this year, went 4-for-4 with two runs scored out of his leadoff spot. Gray, Fifer and Gingerich each rapped out two hits in five at-bats. Gray scored twice and Fifer drove in a pair.
 
The Vikings will wrap up their second Florida trip of the spring on Sunday, March 15 with a 9:00 a.m. contest against Edgewood at the Player Development Complex in Fort Myers.