Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MOLINE, Ill. – Augustana and Elmhurst combined for 53 runs on 59 hits Saturday and didn't even play the full 18 innings in a doubleheader slugfest at Swanson Stadium Brunner Field. The Bluejays held off a Viking rally to win the opener 16-13 and Coach Greg Wallace's 14th-ranked club bounced back to win 18-6 in six and a half innings in the nightcap. Augustana is now 18-4 on the year and 3-2 in the CCIW. Elmhurst is 11-5 overall and 5-2 in the league.
 
ELMHURST 16, AUGUSTANA 13
 
The opener started off quietly enough, with Elmhurst's Ben Havel and Augustana's Mike Powers (Benet Academy, Downers Grove, Ill.) matching goose eggs for three innings.
 
Havel helped his own cause with a leadoff single in a two-run Bluejay fourth. He singled in a run in the fifth to give himself a 3-0 lead and he and his teammates broke things open with a nine spot in the sixth. After Berliner's two run single to left, Havel hammered a three-run homer to center. Matt Wilson added a two-run blast to left later in the inning.
 
The Vikings got on the board with five in the bottom of the sixth. Mitchel Ruh's (Hinckley-Big Rock HS, Big Rock, Ill.) two-run double to left and Peter Doughty's (York HS, Elmhurst, Ill.) two-run homer to center were the big hits.
 
Elmhurst extended its lead to 15-5 with three runs in the top of the seventh, but Augustana benefited from two Bluejay errors to plate seven in the bottom of the frame and get within 15-12. Freshman Michael Nerger (Naperville Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) had the biggest hit—a two-run single to right center.
 
After senior Nick Refka threw a scoreless top of the eighth, the Vikings cut it to 15-12 with a run in the bottom half. Junior Carter Amundsen (Sheboygan South HS, Sheboygan, Wis.) led off with his fifth hit of the game and eventually scored on Doughty's sacrifice fly to left.
 
Elmhurst added an unearned run off Refka in the top of the ninth and Bluejay Adam Price completed two scoreless innings of relief by setting the side down in the bottom half.
 
Havel (3-1) was the winner and went 5-for-6 at the plate with three scored and five driven in. Price earned his first save. Powers fell to 3-2 with the loss. Amundsen was 5-for-6 with three scored and one knocked in and Doughty went 2-for-3 with two runs and four RBI.
 
AUGUSTANA 18, ELMHURST 6
 
The runs kept coming in game two. Elmhurst got to sophomore Connor Berek (Riverside-Brookfield HS, Brookfield, Ill.) for a half-dozen in the top of the first. James Wick's two-run double to center was the big hit. Ruh's two-run homer to left keyed a five-run Augustana bottom half.
 
The Vikings took the lead on sophomore Mike Avella's (Crystal Lake South HS, Crystal Lake, Ill.) three-run, inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the second.
 
After Augustana's only scoreless inning of the game—the third—Wallace's club tacked on seven in the fourth. Doughty drilled a three-run homer to center and freshman Colton Hager (Legend HS, Parker, Colo.) and junior Tyler Nunez (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) had RBI singles in the frame.
 
Cayton Wallace's (Assumption HS, Davenport, Iowa) two-run single in the fifth extended the lead to 17-6 and Ruh doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to complete the day's scoring.
 
Freshman left-hander Justin Meyer (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) finished off 3 2/3 scoreless relief innings by setting the Bluejays down in the top of the seventh and earning his first save. Classmate Levi Palomo (Barrington HS, South Barrington, Ill.) went 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Berek to win his first collegiate decision.
 
Led by three each from Ruh, Doughty and Nerger, seven Vikings had at least two hits. Augustana's four through seven hitters—Ruh, Doughty, Avella and Wallace—combined for 10 hits, 12 runs scored and 11 driven in.