Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana hit three home runs and got an excellent outing from starter Ashley Anderson (Sherrard HS, Viola, Ill.) to win game one of Wednesday's doubleheader with ninth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan. The Vikings took the opener 7-2 at Carver Field before falling 7-4 in the nightcap. Coach Kris Kistler's club is now 11-15 on the season and 1-3 in the CCIW. IWU is 16-4 overall and 3-1 in the league.
 
On Saturday, April 9, Augustana is back in action, taking on Carthage in a doubleheader in Kenosha, Wisconsin, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
 
AUGUSTANA 7, ILLINOIS WESLEYAN 2
 
The Vikings rode the long ball and Anderson's arm to a 7-2 win in game one.
 
IWU scraped across an unearned run in the top of the first, but Augustana took the lead with two runs in the second. Sophomore Shelby Grandt (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.) led off with a home run to left and two outs later, junior Brittany Kellett (The Woodlands HS, The Woodlands, Texas) took Titan starter Jenna Nolan out to center field.
 
Grandt singled in another run in the third and the Vikings took advantage of two IWU errors in the fourth, scoring three times to make it 6-1.
 
In the fifth, the Titans tallied another unearned run and loaded the bases, but Anderson coaxed a comebacker from Laura Bonds to end the inning.
 
Augustana scored its final run in the sixth, when freshman Carly Wilson (Johnsburg HS, Ringwood, Ill.) hit a one-out solo blast to center off reliever Taylor Marvin.
 
Anderson went the distance, allowing just three singles and no earned runs. She got the win to improve to 7-8 on the year. Grandt and Wilson each went 2-for-3 at the plate. Wilson scored three times and Grandt drove in a pair.
 
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN 7, AUGUSTANA 4
 
Grandt got the Vikings off on the right foot in game two, pounding a three-run home run to left off IWU's Mackenzie Marquis in the top of the first. The Titans touched Augustana starter Kendra Rakers (Belleville West HS, Millstadt, Ill.) for three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame.
 
Each team added a run in the second. Lauren Severson (Morris HS, Morris, Ill.) had a leadoff single and eventually scored on a wild pitch. IWU tallied its run on Maggie Graham's solo homer off the scoreboard in center.
 
The Titans got the go-ahead run in the bottom of the third. Mary Rankin led off with a double and scored two outs later on a Cassidy Tarpley single. They added some insurance in the sixth, when Rankin squeezed a bases-loaded single just inside the bag at third, scoring Jillian Runyon and Katie Caulfield to make it 7-4.
 
Augustana went down in order in the ninth, although Grandt nearly had her third homer of the day. Rankin snared her one-out blast off the top of the left field fence.
 
Rakers took the loss, falling to 2-3 on the year. Marquis won for the ninth time in 11 decisions. Kellett had two of the Vikings six hits. Rankin was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three knocked in.