Box Score

MOLINE, Ill. – Trailing 3-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday at Swanson Stadium-Brunner Field, Augustana rallied or four runs to pull out a 5-3 win over North Central and advance to Sunday's CCIW Tournament Championship game. The victory in a battle of conference regular season co-champions gives Coach Greg Wallace's club a 29-12 record this season, while the Cardinals drop to 30-9.
 
With North Central leading 3-1, senior Jeff Prior (Rock Canyon HS, Lone Tree, Colo.) led off the bottom of the eighth with a single to left off Cardinal starter Bryan Polowy. That brought John Swiderski (Geneva HS, Geneva, Ill.) to the plate and the senior catcher hammered a Polowy offering just inside the foul pole in right for a game-tying home run. The North Central ace retired the next two batters, but Carter Amundsen (Sheboygan South HS, Sheboygan, Wis.) lined his third hit of the day into left field and stole second. He came around to score the go-ahead run when Jack Hallmark (Cherry Creek HS, Evergreen, Colo.) sliced a single trough the right side. The sophomore third baseman stole second and tallied an insurance run when freshman Ryan Kairis (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) looped a Michael Sweeney pitch just in front of North Central left fielder Sing Fong for an RBI single and a 5-3 Viking lead.
 
Kyle McGinley (Mullen HS, Denver, Colo.), who had come on in the seventh, set the Cardinals down in order in the ninth to secure his third win in four decisions this year.
 
Both Polowy and Viking starter Zach Morgenstern (Peoria Notre Dame HS, East Peoria, Ill.) kept their opponents largely in check through six innings. Each team scored a run in the second. The Cardinals parlayed a pair of singles, a wild pitch and a ground out into a 1-0 lead in the top half. Augustana answered with a Trace Gingerich (Sherrard HS, Sherrard, Ill.) leadoff double, a Mitchel Ruh (Hinckley-Big Rock HS, Big Rock, Ill.) sacrifice and an Amundsen RBI grounder in the bottom of the frame.
 
North Central took a two-run lead in the top of the seventh without the benefit of a base hit. Morgenstern walked three of the first four batters in the inning, prompting Wallace to call on McGinley out of the pen. The junior right hander got Fong to fly to Amundsen in right, but it was plenty deep enough to score David Rico for a 2-1 Cardinal lead. North Central tacked on another run on a wild pitch.
 
Wallace got nine hits out of spots six through nine in the order. In addition to Amundsen's 3-for-4 performance, Hallmark, Kairis and senior shortstop Alex Fluehr (Harlem HS, Loves Park, Ill.) were each 2-for-4. Morgenstern surrendered four hits, issued five walks and fanned five in 6 1/3 innings. McGinley gave up one hit and struck out three in 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Polowy absorbed just his second loss in seven decisions this year.