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MOLINE, Ill. – Danny Fifer's (Lincoln-Way West HS, New Lenox, Ill.) RBI single in the seventh inning of Saturday's doubleheader nightcap gave Augustana a 6-5 lead and the Vikings went on to an 8-5 win over Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans took the opener by a 7-5 score. The Vikings are now 21-10 on the season and 7-7 in the CCIW. IWU is 20-8 overall and 10-4 in the league.
 
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN 7, AUGUSTANA 5
 
Despite a five-run first inning, Augustana couldn't hang on in the opener.
 
After Viking starter Seth Davis (Mullen HS, Aurora, Colo.) set the Titans down in order in the top of the first, senior Brandon Jasper (Central HS, DeWitt, Iowa) and junior Nathan Gray (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) started the bottom half with consecutive singles. Fifer's sacrifice fly plated Jasper with the game's first run. A hit batter and Trace Gingerich's (Sherrard HS, Sherrard, Ill.) infield hit loaded the bases for Matt Loeffl (Grayslake Central HS, Grayslake, Ill.) and the freshman left fielder doubled down the left field line, driving in two runs. Senior Kyle Lenihan (Romeoville HS, Romeoville, Ill.) followed with a two-run double to the gap in right center and Augustana led 5-0 after one.
 
IWU whittled away at the lead, getting a run in the second on Gino Cavalieri's infield hit and another in the fifth on Pat Mollo's home run.
 
The visitors tied it with three in the eighth. Adam Glogovsky, Tim Coonan and Derek Idstein each had RBI singles.
 
Glogovsky's infield hit drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th and Idstein's sacrifice fly provided reliever Dan Truesdale with an insurance run. Truesdale set the Vikings down in the bottom half to lock up the win.
 
Davis went five innings before leaving in favor of sophomore Cooper SantAmour (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.). SantAmour went four-plus innings and took the loss in his first decision of the year.
 
Gray went 3-for-5. Jasper, Gingerich, Loeffl and Lenihan had two hits apiece.
 
AUGUSTANA 8, ILLINOIS WESLEYAN 5
 
IWU scored one in the fourth and two each in the fifth and sixth innings to wipe out an early Augustana lead in the nightcap.
 
However, the Viking bats went back to work in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, junior Alex Fluehr (Harlem HS, Loves Park, Ill.) singled to right center. He moved to second when Jasper was hit by a Sean Coonan pitch. Gray's single loaded the bases for Fifer and the senior designated hitter stroked a single to right, scoring Fluehr with the go-ahead run. After Jonathan Vlk relieved Coonan, sophomore Mitchel Ruh (Hinckley-Big Rock HS, Big Rock, Ill.) singled to right, plating Jasper with an insurance run.
 
Augustana added another in the seventh on Fluehr's RBI double to right.
 
Meanwhile, sophomore Nick Refka (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.), who came out of the pen in the sixth to strand two Titans, held IWU scoreless for 3 1/3 innings to pick up his second win in as many decisions this year. Sean Coonan suffered the loss.
 
Augustana had taken a 4-0 lead in the second on two-run singles by freshman Tommy Kiriakopoulos (Huntley HS, Lake in the Hills, Ill.) and Gray. Loeffl drove in a run in the fifth with a single to center.
 
Fluehr finished game two 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one driven in. Jasper, Gray, Fifer, Loeffl and Kiriakopoulos each had two hits of the Vikings' 16 hits.
 
The two teams will complete the series with a single game in Bloomington, Illinois on Sunday, April 19. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.