Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – After winning the first game 9-3, Augustana dropped the nightcap 6-2 to Millikin in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin action at Carver Field on Sunday, April 17. The split gives the Vikings a 14-18 overall record and a mark of 4-6 in the CCIW while Millikin is now 13-15 and 2-6.
 
Augustana will host Elmhurst on Saturday, April 23 at Carver Field in CCIW action and then take on Monmouth in a non-conference road double header on Sunday, April 24.
 
GAME 1 – AUGUSTANA 9, MILLIKIN 3
The Vikings were productive in a three-inning stretch in the middle of the game and rode senior Ashley Anderson's (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) pitching to a 9-3 win over Millikin in the first game of a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin double header on a sun-splashed Sunday, April 17 at Carver Field.
 
With the game tied 1-1 after two innings, Augustana struck for two runs in the third and then put three on the board in both the fourth and fifth innings to pull away from the Big Blue.
 
Junior Brittany Kellett (The Woodlands HS, The Woodlands, Texas) opened the third inning with a single to right field and freshman Isabelle Anderson (Alleman Catholic HS, Rock Island, Ill.) came in to pinch run for her. She advanced to second and then third on wild pitches before sophomore Alaina Hofmann (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.) walked. Hofmann gave way to freshman Taylor Belo (Jacobs HS, Algonquin, Ill.) as a pinch runner. An infield error allowed Anderson to score and Belo went all the way to third. She scored on Ashley Anderson's double to center field to give the Vikings a 3-1 lead.
 
In the fourth, after Millikin scored one in the top of the inning, freshman Carly Wilson (Johnsburg HS, Ringwood, Ill.) tripled to lead off the inning and sophomore Zayne Blumberg (Rock Canyon HS, Denver, Colo.) walked. Kellett reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases for sophomore Shelby Grandt (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.), who singled down the right field line to drive home Blumberg and Wilson. Hofmann's sacrifice fly plated Kellett and the margin was 6-2 after four.
 
Kellett had an RBI single in the fifth and Grandt drove in a pair of runs with a sharp single to second to make it 9-2.
 
Anderson was able to hold the Big Blue at bay, despite giving up a run in the top of the seventh. She went the distance and scattered 10 hits with a pair of strikeouts and just one walk to move her record to 9-9 on the season. Anderson also went three for four at the plate with an RBI. Grandt had two hits in three at-bats with four runs driven in. Hofmann picked up two RBI and Wilson scored three times. The Vikings collected 11 hits in the game.
 
GAME 2 – MILLIKIN 6, AUGUSTANA 2
 
Millikin roughed up Augustana starting pitcher Kendra Rakers (Belleville West HS, Millstadt, Ill.) for three runs on five hits in the first inning and used that as a springboard to a 6-2 victory in the nightcap of the double header. Grandt came on in relief of Rakers and pitched five innings and give up three runs on three hits while striking out three.
 
Trailing 3-0 after one inning, the Vikings struck for a pair of runs in the top of the fourth (Augustana was the visitor in  game two). With one out Blumberg singled to left and Kellett followed with a single to right to push Blumberg to third. Isabelle Anderson pinch ran for Kellett and Grandt grounded hit a chopper to third base and Blumberg was caught trying to get back for the second out of the frame. Ashley Anderson doubled to score Isabelle Anderson and Grandt but she was cut down herself trying to stretch the hit into a triple.
 
Grandt ran into some trouble in the fifth when she hit the leadoff batter and walked the second. Eventually a single by Justice Miller plated one Big Blue runner and a single by Haley Rotert drove in two more.
 
Augustana collected eight hits in the game off Millikin starter Whitley Baker with Blumberg getting two of those.