Box Score

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Augustana exploded for four runs each in the fourth and fifth innings Wednesday on its way to a 10-4 victory over Concordia (Minn.) at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex. Coach Greg Wallace's outfit improved to 7-1 this season, while the Cobbers dropped to 3-3.
 
Concordia scored an unearned run without the benefit of a hit against Connor Berek (Riverside-Brookfield HS, Brookfield, Ill.) in the top of the first. Leadoff man Austin Ver Steeg reached second on a Viking error, was sacrificed to third and came home with the game's first run on Cody Rahman's sacrifice fly to center.
 
Cobber starter Zack Nelson hit consecutive batters to start the Augustana third. One out later, junior Tyler Nunez's (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) RBI groundout plated John Sagen (Naperville North HS, Naperville, Ill.) with the tying run. Nelson left the bags full of Vikings to escape further damage.
 
Berek stranded three Concordia runners in the top of the fourth and the Augustana bats broke through in the bottom half. Senior Cayton Wallace (Assumption HS, Rock Island, Ill.) and sophomore Nick Mosele (University HS, Bloomington, Ill.) sandwiched singles around another Sagen plunking to load the bases. Wallace scored the go-ahead run on a Cobber error and Nunez knocked in two more with a single to right. Sophomore Ryan Kairis (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) scored on a throwing error to make it 5-1 Vikings after four.
 
Matt Loeffl's (Grayslake Central HS, Grayslake, Ill.) two-out single started a four-run Augustana fifth. Mosele had a two-run single and Kairis hit his first career homer—a two-run blast to right that put the Vikings up 9-1.
 
Berek left to start the fifth in favor of junior Mitch Malone (Minooka HS, Minooka, Ill.). The sophomore southpaw allowed just one single and no earned runs in his four-inning stint. He pitched around four walks and a hit batter. Malone threw two scoreless innings before the Concordia plated two in the seventh and one in the eighth. John Moraski's (Kewanee HS, Kewanee, Ill.) RBI single in the bottom of the eighth scored Nunez with the game's final run.
 
In his first varsity appearance, freshman Chris Refka (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) set the Cobbers down in order in the top of the ninth.
 
Malone (1-0) picked up his first career win. He allowed one hit, walked one and fanned one in two scoreless innings. Nunez finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and Mosele went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two knocked in. Kairis also scored twice and drove in a pair and Sagen scored three times.
 
The Vikings will wrap up their first trip to Florida with a 9:30 a.m. (EST) contest against Rose-Hulman on Friday, March 3. Wallace's club returns to the Sunshine State for four Gene Cusic Classic games in Fort Myers from March 16-19.