Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Midwest winter broke just in time for Augustana get in a pair of baseball games Saturday at Lenz Field and Coach Greg Wallace's Vikings made the most of the opportunity, recording wins over Carleton and Luther. Augustana improved to 7-3 on the year and will head back to Florida for four more games on March 12-15.
 
AUGUSTANA 13, CARLETON 9
 
A seven-run fifth provided the Vikings with enough offense to get a 13-9 win over the Knights on a day when staff ace Seth Davis (Mullen HS, Aurora, Colo.) wasn't at his best. Davis battled through 5 1/3 innings to pick up his third win in as many starts and sophomore Cooper SantAmour (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) threw the final 3 2/3 to earn his third save of the season.
 
The game was tied at 5-5 through four and a half innings. Junior catcher John Swiderski (Geneva HS, Geneva, Ill.) led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to center and capped the scoring with an RBI double later in the frame. In between, freshman first baseman Tommy Kiriakopoulos (Huntley HS, Lake in the Hills, Ill.) drove in a run when he reached on an error, junior shortstop Alex Fluehr (Harlem HS, Loves Park, Ill.) delivered a two-run single, junior center fielder Nathan Gray (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) doubled in a run and senior left field Danny Fifer (Lincoln-Way West HS, New Lenox, Ill.) doubled in two.
 
Carleton came right back to touch Davis for four runs in the top of the six and cut the Viking lead to 12-9, but SantAmour came out of the pen to finish the inning and then held the Knights without a hit over the final three frames. Swiderski's leadoff homer in the eighth accounted for the game's final run.
 
Carleton took a 1-0 lead in the second before Augustana put three on the board in the third. Nolan Baker's three-run homer keyed a four-run Knight fourth and the Vikings countered with two in the bottom half to tie it at 5-5.
 
Led by three each from Gray and Swiderski, Augustana banged out 15 hits. Six Vikings scored two runs each and Fifer drove in three to lead four Vikings with multiple RBI. Davis gave up nine hits and nine runs, but fanned eight. SantAmour gave up a hit to the first batter he faced, but none the rest of the way. He walked one and struck out three.
 
AUGUSTANA 8, LUTHER 2
 
Gray added three more hits and four Augustana pitchers combined on a five-hitter as the Vikings won their second game of the day 8-2 over the Norse.
 
Swiderski's RBI groundout gave Wallace's club a 1-0 lead after a half inning and Augustana jumped on Luther for five more in the third. Gray started things with a one-out double to left and eventually scored on a passed ball. Senior Jacques Camalick (Hinsdale Central HS, Burr Ridge, Ill.) drove in a run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and sophomore Mitchel Ruh (Hinckley-Big Rock HS, Big Rock, Ill.) singled in another. Fluehr capped the scoring with a two-run single to right.
 
After Gray's leadoff double led to a Viking run in the top of the fourth, Luther did its only damage against starter Kyle McGinley (Mullen HS, Denver, Colo.), scoring a pair in the bottom half. The Augustana sophomore threw a scoreless fifth and sixth before exiting in favor of senior Kevin Hodgman (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville, Ill.) to start the seventh. Hodgman and juniors Walter White (East Peoria HS, East Peoria, Ill.) and Darwin Townsend (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) each threw one hitless inning to close the game out.
 
Gray doubled twice among his three hits and scored two runs. Swiderski had a triple, score twice and drove in two. Camalick added a pair of hits as well. McGinley struck out 10 and gave up just five hits and one walk in his six innings. He picked up the win to improve to 2-1 on the season.