Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MOLINE,  Ill. – Augustana opened CCIW play on Friday, splitting a doubleheader with Wheaton at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field. The Vikings took the opener 8-6, but fell 14-11 in the nightcap and are now 13-4 on the season and 1-1 in the league. The Thunder moved to 10-9 overall and 1-3 in the conference. The teams are scheduled to complete their three-game series at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 31 in Carol Stream, Illinois.
 
AUGUSTANA 8, WHEATON 6
 
Augustana rode the pitching of junior Mike Powers (Benet Academy, Westmont, Ill.) and the bat of senior Carter Amundsen (Sheboygan South HS, Sheboygan, Wis.) to an 8-6 win in the opener.
 
After Powers and Wheaton starter Michael McCraith each put up goose eggs for the first four innings, the visitors jumped in front with three in the fifth. Joel Pierce reached on an error leading off and scored the game's first run on Jacob Garrity's RBI single. Later, Nick Mailman squeezed in Clay Morrison and Jesse Welch's double to left center scored Garrity.
 
The Vikings took the lead with four in the bottom of the fifth and added four more in the sixth to go up 8-3. Amundsen's two-out, three-run homer got the hosts on the board, scoring seniors John Moraski (Kewanee HS, Kewanee, Ill.) and Jack Hallmark (Cherry Creek HS, Englewood, Colo.), who had both singled. Junior Ryan Kairis (Marist HS, Chicago, Ill.) reached on an infield hit and scored the go-ahead run on Jake Huber's (Lockport HS, Homer Glen, Ill.) double to the gap in left center.
 
Amundsen had the big hit in Augustana's four-run sixth as well. Ryan Granneman's (McHenry West HS, McHenry, Ill.) RBI double off reliever A.J. Dhus made it 5-3 and Hallmark knocked in a run with a bunt single before Amundsen delivered them both with a two-run double to left.
 
Wheaton got to the Viking pen for three runs in the eighth, but Hallmark's diving stop of a Garrity shot down the third-base line prevented further damage.
 
Powers scattered seven hits, walked none and fanned three in 6 2/3 innings, allowing just one earned run to improve to 4-1 with the win. Senior Mitch Malone (Minooka HS Minooka, Ill.) threw two scoreless innings to earn his fourth save of the year. McCraith dropped to 2-2 with the loss.
 
Amundsen finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and five RBI. Moraski, Granneman and Hallmark each had a pair of hits.
 
WHEATON 14, AUGUSTANA 11
 
Wheaton plated five runs in the eighth inning to pull out the nightcap  14-11.
 
Freshman starter Matt Hoban (Monarch HS, Westminster, Colo.) struggled with control issues and Wheaton scored five in the top of the first before junior lefty Connor Berek (Riverside-Brookfield HS, Brookfield, Ill.) got Augustana out of further damage.
 
The Vikings responded with three runs in the bottom of the first and took the lead with four more in the top of the second. Junior Gunnar Haskins (Alleman HS, Moline, Ill.) and Moraski sandwiched RBI doubles around a run-scoring single by senior Matt Loeffl (Grayslake HS, Grayslake, Ill.) in the first. Huber's two-run double to right center tied it in the second and Haskins and Moraski added RBI singles to make it 7-5 Augustana.
 
A Kairis single in the third plated Hallmark to make it 8-5 and the scoring ebbed until Wheaton finally got to Berek for two runs in the top of the sixth. The Vikings answered with three in the bottom half to extend the advantage to 11-7.
 
After the Thunder plated two in the top of the seventh, Welch moved from shortstop to the mound to start the bottom of the frame and shut the hosts out for two innings. His teammates gave him the lead with five more runs in the eighth. Morrison's three-run double to center was the big hit.
 
Nick Johnson threw the bottom of the ninth for Wheaton and earned his fourth save of the season.
 
Welch got the win in his first decision of the year, while Augustana senior Vinny Rotunno (Lakes HS, Lindenhurst, Ill.) fell to 2-2 with the loss. Haskins paced a 14-hit Viking attack, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two driven in.