Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

DECATUR, Ill. – Augustana rallied for three runs in the ninth inning of Friday's doubleheader nightcap at Millikin to complete an 11-3, 5-4 sweep of the Big Blue at Sunnyside Park. The Vikings, ranked 24th in the nation, improved to 20-7 overall and 6-5 in the CCIW. The hosts dropped to 13-12 on the season and 2-9 in the conference.
 
Coach Greg Wallace's club is back in action on Monday, April 17, taking on Elmhurst on the road with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
 
AUGUSTANA 11, MILLIKIN 3
 
Augustana exploded for eight runs in its final three at-bats in the opener, busting open a tie game to win 11-3.
 
With the contest tied at 3-3, sophomore Nick Mosele (University HS, Bloomington, Ill.) was hit by a Phillip Ganley pitch leading off the seventh. Junior Carter Amundsen (Sheboygan South HS, Sheboygan, Wis.) followed with a double down the right field line that plated Mosele with the go-ahead run. The Vikings added runs on a Mitchel Ruh (Hinckley-Big Rock HS, Big Rock, Ill.) infield hit and a John Moraski (Kewanee HS, Kewanee, Ill.) sacrifice fly to lead 6-3 after six and a half.
 
Amundsen and Ruh each had two-run doubles in a four-run Augustana eighth and junior Matt Loeffl (Grayslake Central HS, Grayslake, Ill.) doubled and scored on a Ryan Kairis (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) sacrifice fly in the ninth to account for the final.
 
The Big Blue took a 2-0 lead when Jake Drada hit a two-out, two-run homer off of Mike Powers (Benet Academy, Downers Grove, Ill.) in the third.
 
Each team scored once in the fourth. Four Logan Talkington walks pushed across a Viking run and Millikin answered with a Luke McConnell double and a Seth Coffey RBI single in the bottom half.
 
The Vikings tied it with two in the sixth. Amundsen drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on Peter Doughty's (York HS, Elmhurst, Ill.) single to right. Ruh scored Amundsen with a double to left center and senior Cayton Wallace (Assumption HS, Rock Island, Ill.) delivered Doughty with a sacrifice fly to right.
 
Powers went 6 2/3 innings and won for the fourth time in six decisions. Freshman lefty Justin Meyer (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) threw 2 1/3 scoreless frames to earn his second save. Talkington left after four innings despite not allowing a hit and Granley suffered the loss in his first decision of the season. Amundsen went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and three knocked in and Ruh was 3-for-4 with four RBI.
 
AUGUSTANA 5, MILLIKIN 4
 
Augustana trailed 4-2 going to the ninth in game two. Amundsen was hit by a Ben Peters pitch to start the inning and Doughty followed with a two-run, game-tying homer to right. The blast was Doughty's team-leading fourth of the season—all in the last seven games. After two Big Blue errors, Kairis singled to center, scoring Ruh with the eventual game-winner.
 
Senior Casey Weir (Warren HS, Wadsworth, Ill.) set Millikin down in the bottom of the ninth to earn his fourth save.
 
The Big Blue jumped on top 2-0 in the bottom of the first. Drada had an RBI single and McConnell a run-scoring double off senior right-hander Zach Morgenstern (Peoria Notre Dame HS, East Peoria, Ill.).
 
Ruh's third homer of the year, leading off the fourth, cut the deficit in half, but Millikin answered with a pair in the bottom of the frame on RBI singles by Devin Crews and Julian Gutierrez.
 
Singles by Ruh, Loeffl and Wallace produced an Augustana run in the eight and set up the Vikings' ninth-inning heroics.
 
Senior Nick Refka (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) threw two scoreless innings of relief to pick up his third win against two losses. Peters (1-3) took the loss. Ruh finished 2-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI. Kairis had two hits and an RBI in three at-bats.